Revenge Fantasy
by criminalxxxmindsxxxfreak
Summary: A killer who's been taunting NCIS for 6 months drops a body out-of-state, forcing them to call the FBI. They soon realize the killer has other motives besides killing young Petty Officers and Tony & Reid get caught in his twisted trap. WARNING: violence
1. Chapter 1

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_A/N: This is my first NCIS/Criminal Minds crossover guys, so please bear with me. I held off writing an NCIS story for a long time because I'm not sure how well I can capture the characters and since I love them and want them to be as close to themselves as possible, it took a little while._

_I absolutely love Ziva, but I still cannot quite get her character right for me, so this story will take place in NCIS season 2, before Kate dies (I love Kate too, don't get me wrong, she's amazing!) And Criminal Minds season 5, after Hotch comes back to work after the Reaper is killed._

_I hope you guys enjoy it! Let me know what you think of it, please!_

_WARNING: This story may not be suitable for children under the age of 13 due to graphic violence, mild language, blood and possible gruesome crime scenes. Parents strongly cautioned (lol, I always wanted to say that…)_

_But seriously, I'm not sure if there will be torture, but there will be whumpage of Reid and Tony because I love them both and if you've ever read anything I've written, you know the characters I love suffer the most abuse… I'm sick and twisted, but you're reading it so… yeah :)_

_PLEASE REVIEW!_

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**QUANTICO, VIRGINIA - NATURE RESERVE 5:34 P.M. EST**

"Ouch!" Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo hissed when the young man behind him stumbled over a rock and crashed into him, nearly knocking him down to the ground. "Watch where you're going, will ya?" he muttered.

"Sorry," the younger man, a skinny, slightly awkward FBI agent named Dr. Spencer Reid, murmured. "I'm still having some trouble navigating rough terrain since I was shot…"

Tony rolled his eyes, pushing up the bill of his baseball cap. "God, you sound like a freakin' Encyclopedia - Wait… You were shot?"

Reid blinked, ignoring the other agent's sarcasm. "Yeah. I was shot in the knee while protecting a man from an unsub a few months ago..."

Tony blinked in surprise, both at what the agent had said and how he had said it. In the few hours that he had known Agent Reid, the young man had listed off specifics down to the second. He shrugged it off, guessing it was just an attempt to appear normal. "Huh… Was it your first case in the field or something?"

"No." Reid frowned, catching himself before he almost tripped again. "I've been with the BAU since I was 21."

Tony stopped walking and turned around, staring at him with a confused look on his face. "Well… how old are you now? Like, 24?"

"No, I just turned 30 in March, actually." Reid said, trying not to get too offended by the other agent's surprise. A lot of people assumed he was younger and inexperienced in the field.

Tony tried not to look surprised, but it wasn't all that easy. "…I could've sworn you were a Probee." he murmured, turning and continuing down the trail that led to their newest crime scene.

"A what?" Reid frowned, stumbling to catch up with the faster agent.

"Thought you were a genius…" Tony muttered. "A Probee, you know? A Probationary Agent? Doesn't the FBI use that term? Or is there no trial period for agents in the field, 'cause that would explain a lot…"

"No, we have a Probationary period for every field agent, I've just never heard that term before."

"Well, you learn something new every day, don't you doctor?" Tony remarked, breathing a sigh of relief when they finally reached the end of the trail and came to the clearing where the body of their latest victim was supposed to be.

"Actually, that's true." Reid nodded, following behind the NCIS agent. "Did you know that expression originated in -"

Tony suddenly held up his hand and hissed, "SHH."

Reid frowned, glancing at the other man, confused. Before he could ask what was wrong, Tony put his finger to his lips and whispered "Do you hear that?"

Reid paused and looked around the clearing. If he concentrated hard enough, he could just hear the faint hum of music coming from somewhere near the edge of the tree line. "…music?" he frowned.

Tony's hand slowly went to his gun and Reid did the same, both slowly approaching the noise, Reid glancing around behind them in case someone came out of the trees. "Agent Reid, do you notice something… missing from the crime scene?" Tony asked as they got closer to the trees.

Reid's eyes swept the clearing and he breathed, "A body…"

Tony nodded, kneeling down when they reached the other end of the clearing. "Any idea why someone would report a body that's not here?"

Reid swallowed, feeling dread creeping into his stomach. "An ambush…" He whispered hoarsely.

Tony pushed branches away, hearing the music louder now. "I was really hoping for a different answer, Doc." he muttered. His hand brushed something cold and he froze, pushing away more twigs until he saw a pale hand. Further inspection revealed that it was attached to a body.

Sighing in relief, Tony looked up at the other agent. "Got a body here," he informed him, standing from his crouch and moving the larger branches out of his way so that they could take photos and process the scene before calling Ducky.

Reid holstered his gun, but still looked confused. "Then where is the music coming from?" he wondered.

"Dunno, maybe -" He stopped, eyes falling on a blinking device taped to the body, a radio playing soft music was sitting on top of it. "Bomb." Tony said, backing away.

"What?" Reid looked confused, turning to look at the body. Tony didn't give him the chance, grabbing his arm and pulling him away, sprinting into a run, yelling, "There's a bomb!"

Reid's eyes widened and he started running behind Tony, but he stumbled and fell just a few feet from the mouth of the trail. Tony turned and slid into a half crouch, yanking the other man back to his feet and dragging him back toward the trail.

Only a few seconds later the earth shook beneath them with the force of the blast, setting the trees ablaze and sending the two agents crashing to the ground. Before his vision completely blacked out, Tony could just make out a pair of muddy combat boots… This was not how he'd expected his day to end…

**NCIS NAVY YARD 10:12 A.M. EST**

Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs scowled into the cell phone receiver. "I realize that our last body crossed state lines, but the victim was another female Petty Officer, that puts the case in NCIS jurisdiction." he growled.

He paused, scowling again as the Director spoke on the other end of the line. Special Agents Kate Todd, Timothy McGee and Tony DiNozzo stood at a safe distance from their boss's desk, but remained close enough to hear the conversation.

"I don't care what the Director of the FBI wants, this is my case, damn it!" Gibbs spat, almost crushing his ever-present cup of coffee in his hands. He hadn't even had a chance to take a drink from it since they'd found the fourth body early that morning. Ever since then, Gibbs had been arguing jurisdiction with the NCIS Director and the Director of the FBI.

"… We don't need any help. We can solve this case by ourselves." he snapped. He took a deep breath, listening to the man on the other end of the line. Finally, after a long, tense pause the former Marine tightened his jaw. "Yes, sir." he said tersely. "I understand. We'll wait for the team to arrive at NCIS headquarters before we process any more evidence."

The three agents looked shocked. Gibbs actually agreeing to work with FBI? Since when had that happened? He snapped his cell phone shut angrily and glanced over in their direction. "Are you three gonna stand around eavesdropping on my conversations or are you actually planning on getting any work done?"

The blinked and stumbled forward again, Tony speaking first. "Our victim was ID'd as Petty Office Jessica Landing. She was in Virginia visiting her mother and sisters, on her way back to South Carolina and her body was found just across the state line in West Virginia…"

Gibbs frowned, "Anything I didn't already know?" he demanded, looking to Kate and McGee.

"…Um… Petty Office Landing was engaged to Lieutenant James Hollingsworth, in the Army. He's currently stationed in Afghanistan and hasn't been notified of her death yet. She was staying at the Royal Hotel, about sixty miles from where her body was discovered and according to the clerk, she never came back after leaving to go to her mother's… I'm checking through security footage now to see if anything unusual shows up." McGee said, stuttering slightly and glancing up every few moments from the paper in his hands.

"She fits the same pattern of the other three victims. A Petty Office, young, blond with green eyes who was staying alone. The only difference is that he didn't dump the body near the Navy Yard this time…" Kate said, frowning over the folder in her hands.

"Yeah, I know that. Why?" Gibbs frowned, taking a drink from his coffee cup and scowling.

"…Well… if he has any knowledge of law enforcement -" Kate began to theorize.

"Let's assume that this bastard knows something about law enforcement." Gibbs interrupted. "He's been dropping bodies outside of our headquarters for almost six months."

She took a breath, nodding. "Ok, then he could've known that dumping the body across state lines would force us to call the FBI. It's clear from the lack of blood at the scene that she was not killed at the dump site… But what would getting the FBI here accomplish?"

"Pissing me off…" Gibbs muttered.

"I'll remember that sentiment, Agent Gibbs." A gruff voice behind them spoke. Tony, Kate and McGee almost jumped, surprised that someone else had Gibb's talent to sneak up on people. The man standing there had dark, harsh eyes, short black hair and hard lines around his mouth. He didn't look like he smiled much. There was a small group of people behind him who looked less severe but still reeked of FBI.

"_Agent_ Hotchner." Gibbs looked surprised, standing from his seat and holding out his hand to the man. "Last time I saw you, you were a prosecutor, working the Fidel case…"

"You two know each other?" a strong looking black man in a thin tee-shirt and jeans asked, raising an eye brow. He didn't exactly look like all the other FBI agents they'd ever met before.

The other man, Agent Hotchner, nodded. "And the last time I saw you, you were barely passed you're probationary field time, Jethro." There was a small twinkle in his eyes.

"Maybe if I'd had more experience, we could've put that bastard away for good."

Hotch nodded, "Maybe."

"So you're in the FBI now?"

"Yeah," the man nodded, "Supervisory Special Agent in Charge…" his smile was small, but to the agents behind him, it was an immense improvement over the last few months. "And this is my team, SSAs Jennifer Jareau, Emily Prentiss, David Rossi, Derek Morgan and Doctor Spencer Reid."

Tony cocked a brow and grinned flirtatiously at Agent Prentiss, who smirked and shook her head, suppressing a laugh when Kate hit him with a folder. Agent Jareau was a pretty blond woman with wide blue eyes, Agent Morgan was the muscled agent who'd spoken before, Agent Rossi was older and looked vaguely familiar to Tony and Kate, though they didn't know why and Agent Reid was thin and gangly with slightly long curly hair and looked the least like an FBI agent… of course, Agent Hotchner had said he was a doctor, maybe he was like a coroner or something…

"David Rossi?" McGee spoke up, eyeing the older man in awe. "_The _David Rossi? The writer?"

Rossi nodded, a smile quirking his lips. "That would be me…"

"I am such a fan!" McGee grinned, looked excited. A harsh look from Gibbs cut him off. "But… uh… we have more important things to worry about. Sorry, Boss."

Gibbs turned back to Hotch, "So, Hotch, you're profiling now?"

"Seemed like a good way to get the bad guys before I prosecuted them," Hotch nodded. "And just so we're clear, Jethro, this is still your case. We're just here to help."

"Mostly because Strauss wants us out of the way and is hoping we screw something up…" Prentiss muttered under her breath. Hotch chose to ignore the comment. "We'd like to see the latest crime scene and the body."

"Alright, you can send a couple of your guys with Agents DiNozzo and Todd." He nodded to Tony and Kate. "I'm going to see Ducky right now. Come with me. McGee, see if Abby was able to find anything from her clothes."

"On it, Boss," McGee turned and headed toward the elevators.

"Reid, you and Prentiss go with Agents DiNozzo and Todd to the dump site. Rossi, you and Morgan talk to her mother and sisters. JJ, keep the press out of this for now. From the sounds of it, this guy wants recognition and we're not going to give it to him."

The agents nodded and hurried to their assigned task. Gibbs almost cracked a smile, but he still didn't want to work with FBI, even if one of the agents was practically an old friend… "Autopsy's this way. Kate, DiNozzo, get moving!"

Tony nodded quickly, putting down the folder he'd been holding in his hands. "On it, Boss." he said, leading the way as Kate and the two FBI agents followed him to the elevators.

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_E/N: So, what do you guys think? The first scene was from later in the story, btw, in case anyone was confused. I was going to just make that the prologue but it wasn't quite up to my 1000 word quota, so I just decided to leave it in chapter one as a sort of teaser._

_Hopefully I didn't get the NCIS characters too off-character. Let me know! And don't worry, there will almost definitely be more tension between the teams. NCIS doesn't exactly like the FBI after all…_

_Don't forget to review! _


	2. Chapter 2

_A/N: Thanks so much for all of your reviews guys! They really mean a lot to me. Hopefully I can live up to your expectations. I'm sorry for not giving you guys my usual daily updates, I'm hoping that we'll have internet sometime soon, in the meantime just bear with me._

_WARNING: __This story may not be suitable for children under the age of 13 due to graphic violence, mild language, blood and possible gruesome crime scenes. Parents strongly cautioned. Seriously, if you're under the age of 13 you have to ask your parents before you can read this._

_PLEASE REVIEW! I'll give you a cookie :)_

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**NCIS NAVY YARD – MORGUE 10:23 A.M. EST**

"He tore you apart, didn't he?" Ducky whispered to the dead body on the autopsy table. He leaned over and squinted at a gash in her right lung, where the killer had stabbed her at least three times. He tutted under his breath, shaking his head while Jim Palmer stood close by, watching intently. "Hmm… That's certainly interesting." Ducky mused, reaching into her chest cavity and pulling out what appeared to be a wadded piece of paper.

"What is that?" Palmer asked, eyeing the bloodied paper in horrified awe.

"Well, it appears to be an old piece of notebook paper, forced into her chest cavity… most likely through one of the stab wounds inflicted prior to her death…" He turned the crumpled paper this way and that with the silver tweezer-like tool and then placed it in an evidence bag. "Get this to Abby," he said, handing the bag to Jimmy. He took it and studied it for a moment before nodding, "Yes, Doctor." He said, turning and heading out of the morgue, still studying the bag.

He almost knocked over a dark haired man in a suit, walking into the morgue in front of Gibbs. "Oh, uh… sorry." Palmer apologized, hurrying out of the morgue and up to Abby's lab.

Ducky looked up at them and smiled slightly. "Just in time, Jethro." He said. "And this must be one of the FBI agents…"

"Aaron Hotchner," Hotch introduced himself with a fractional smile.

"Hotchner… that name seems vaguely familiar…" Ducky mused thoughtfully.

"He prosecuted a case a few years back… Fidel, remember?" Gibbs explained, walking over to the autopsy table and studying the woman's mutilated body.

"Ah, yes, Mason Fidel… A serial rapist, I do believe. That case was what… twelve years ago? It's a shame you weren't able to get those two murder charges to stick. You know, Elizabeth Daniels's mother called me last year to –"

"Duck," Gibbs interrupted him. "The body…"

"Right, of course." Ducky nodded, walking back over to the autopsy table. "Our Miss Landing did not have a pleasant demise, I'm afraid. She was beaten and raped brutally… and then she suffered immense trauma to her chest and abdomen, having been stabbed at least twenty-seven times before, mercifully, he cut her throat, severing her jugular vein, and she bled out."

Hotch studied the body, trying to ignore the fact that she looked a little bit like Haley in the face. "Her injuries are consistent with the other three victims," he noted.

"Ah… there's one more thing. I found a piece of notebook paper lodged in her chest cavity, underneath her right lung."

Gibbs looked up, frowning. "Let's see it."

"I sent it to Abby," Ducky explained. "I was just going to call you when –"

"Let's go see Abby," Gibbs interrupted, already walking to the door.

Hotch looked after him for a moment, shaking his head. "He's nicer than I remember." He mused.

Ducky chuckled, smiling lightly at the agent. "Don't tell him that."

**NCIS NAVY YARD – FORENSICS LAB 10:46 A.M. EST**

McGee watched as Abby pulled her goggles up on top her head, her pigtails bobbing. "So, these FBI guys aren't like Fornell and his cronies?" she asked.

"Well… their boss kinda is, but the others seem more… relaxed than the FBI agents I've met in the past. And they've got David Rossi on their team." He sounded excited again. "I've read every one of his books!"

Abby grinned, turning her attention to the crumpled paper ball, stained with blood, that Palmer had brought up a few minutes earlier. "Aw, McGee has a man crush." She teased, gently starting to uncrumple the fragile paper.

"I do not!" McGee protested. "I just happen to be a fan of his."

"Still talking about Agent Russo?" Gibbs asked, walking up behind the two of them, making McGee jump.

"Um… it's – it's Rossi, boss." McGee stammered slightly, backing up to let Gibbs stand next to Abby.

Gibbs frowned at him, "I don't care, McGee, that's not important right now." He nodded, "Sorry, boss."

"What have you got, Abbs?" Gibbs asked after a moment, turning to examine the clump of paper she was unfolding.

"Nothing yet," Abby frowned. "No drugs were in her system and the guy used a condom. I'm trying to unfold this paper… Maybe our killer left us a love note." She grinned, looking excited.

Gibbs raised a brow, shaking his head at her.

"If he used a condom, there's a good chance his DNA is in the system. Murders this brutal aren't likely a first time offense." Hotch explained.

Abby turned around, noticing Hotch for the first time. "Hey, FBI dude!" she grinned. "Didn't see you back there."

Hotch cracked a smile, "Abby, this is, uh, Agent Hotchner." McGee introduced them.

"Hotch, please." Hotch added, his smile growing for a moment.

She grinned, "Cool name." she said, turning back to the soggy paper. "… There's something written on this," she said, carefully moving it underneath the microscope.

"What's it say?" Gibbs asked, moving around the counter.

"Patience, Gibbs." Abby cautioned. "This is a very delicate procedure. The fate of the entire world could hang in the balance… I need total silence." She paused dramatically, grinning.

Hotch laughed quietly, shaking his head. Gibbs frowned, "Abby, today."

She made a face, "You're no fun." She muttered, pushing the ends back further and glancing at the note under the microscope. "Alright, it's a bit hard to make out… some of the words are smudged from the blood…"

"Abby…" Gibbs warned.

"I'm trying, I'm trying…" Abby assured him, squinting. She twisted a knob on the device to focus on the note better. "It says… 'By the time this is over, you're going to regret ever putting me away.'" She straightened up, frowning. "Huh…"

"What could that mean, boss?" McGee asked, looking to Gibbs. It was Hotch who answered.

"It means whoever's doing this is doing it because of NCIS."

Gibbs scowled, "These murders are not our fault, Hotch." He argued. "This sick bastard is doing this because he's twisted and needs to be locked up forever, not because of my team. You are not going to blame NCIS for –"

"I wasn't planning on it." Hotch assured him. "What I was trying to say was that this killer is obviously angry about being arrested. He dumped the first three bodies practically on your doorstep to send a message. Now he leaves this note. It's pretty clear he's after some kind of revenge."

Gibbs frowned, "Then why dump the fourth body in West Virginia?" he asked. "That's why you're here. It's a federal case."

Hotch frowned, "It is strange that he'd do that, but there must be a reason."

"Kate said that he could have been trying to get the FBI here," McGee spoke up, glancing between his boss and the FBI agent, almost able to feel the tension that had suddenly risen.

"But what does bringing in the FBI accomplish?" Hotch frowned, thinking.

McGee bit his lip and slowly suggested, "Maybe he's mad at the FBI too."

Hotch nodded, "So we're looking for someone that was arrested because of NCIS and the FBI… How many joint cases have you worked?" he asked, looking to Gibbs.

"Not many," Gibbs admitted. "I avoid it as often as possible."

"Good, that'll make this easier for us." Hotch nodded, pulling out his cell phone and calling Garcia.

"_Why, do my ears deceive me or is our fearless leader calling little old me for help?" _Garcia's perky, cheerful voice broke over the speaker. Gibbs frowned and Abby chuckled. McGee tried to fight back a smile.

"Garcia, I need you to do me a favor."

"_Sure thing, boss man. But why isn't my Chocolate God calling me? Something wrong?"_

"Nothing's wrong, Garcia, Morgan's interviewing a victim's family with Rossi right now. I need you to look into all the past cases that NCIS and the FBI worked together."

"_Ooh, such a sad number… It looks all lonely sitting there, you know."_

Hotch fought the urge to roll his eyes, "Garcia, please focus. Now can you tell me how many of the suspects were released about six months ago?"

They could hear the sound of typing in the background as Garcia searched through the small list of cases. _"Not sure if this is good or not, but … none."_

"None?" Hotch frowned. "That doesn't make any sense…"

"_I'm sorry, but that's what I've got."_

Hotch frowned, "What about anyone released a year ago?"

"_Hmm… One. A Thomas Fuller was paroled a year ago after serving six years of his fifteen year sentence for raping two female Petty Officers."_

Hotch looked up at Gibbs, who suddenly looked hopeful. "Can I get an address, Garcia?"

"_Can you get an address?"_ Garcia scoffed. _"Are you doubting my abilities after all these years, Hotch? …Give me two seconds and I can tell you what his uvula looks like."_

Hotch shook his head, "Just the address, Garcia."

"_134 West Fountain Drive, Quantico, Virginia." _Garcia said, _"I sent the coordinates to your phone."_

Hotch smiled, "Thank you, Garcia." He said hanging up.

"I like her," Abby grinned.

Hotch glanced at Abby, eyeing her for a minute, smiling. "She'd probably like you too…" he agreed.

"Let's go talk to Thomas Fuller," Gibbs said, walking out of the lab with Hotch behind him. Before he reached the door he called, "McGee! That means you too!"

**QUANTICO, VIRGINA – DENISE LANDING'S HOUSE 10:49 A.M.**

Morgan and Rossi glanced around the neat yard while they waited for the door to open. An older woman with blond hair yanked back into a tight pony tail answered the door, deep lines around her eyes and mouth. She looked like she'd been crying recently; her eyes were red and puffy. "Denise Landing?" Morgan asked, holding up his badge when Rossi did the same thing.

"Can we talk to you for a few minutes?"

She frowned, "Those NCIS agents were already here earlier…" she said.

"We know, but we need to ask you a few more questions if that's alright, ma'am. We're trying to find whoever did this to your daughter and every little bit counts."

She pursed her lips and opened the door wider, allowing them to enter. "Alright, but please be quick about it. Lindsay and Anna have already been through enough today."

They nodded and followed Denise down a narrow hall to her living room where two young women, both with blond hair and green eyes that matched their mother's, sat talking quietly, tears still glittering in their eyes.

"Who are you?" the older of the two asked, frowning at them.

"I'm Agent Rossi, this is Agent Morgan." Rossi said, taking a seat when Denise motioned for them to sit down on the couch across from the girls. "We're with the FBI… investigating your sister's murder."

The woman pushed her lips together, "We already talked to NCIS." She said, frowning at them. "Why are you sitting here asking us questions instead of being out there looking for the bastard that did this?"

"Anna!" Denise shook her head, frowning at her daughter.

"It's alright, ma'am." Rossi said quietly. "Anna, we've got two teams of agents out there looking for whoever did this to your sister, and making sure that it doesn't happen to anyone else, but we still need to talk to you. Every little detail could help us figure out who did this to her and why."

Anna still looked angry, but she nodded slowly, wiping the remnant of tears from her eyes. "Fine." She muttered, sitting back in her seat. "Ask your questions."

Morgan glanced at Rossi and leaned forward. "Jessica was here visiting you, correct?"

Denise nodded, "Yes, she tries to come at least once a month, especially since her father died last year."

"Why wasn't she staying at the house?" Rossi asked, frowning for a minute.

"She never stays here," Lindsay said, "There are only two bedrooms and she says – said, that she feels more comfortable at a hotel. …She used to joke that they cooked better breakfast than Mom does." Denise smiled at that, some lost memory glittering in her eyes.

"Did Jessica have a boyfriend near the Royal Hotel?" Morgan asked. "She stayed there on most of her visits. Maybe he worked there or –"

"No, Jessie was engaged to James. She wouldn't cheat on him." Anna said, frowning at them.

"We're just asking questions, Anna." Rossi said, trying to calm her down. "We're not trying to insinuate anything."

"Could've fooled me," Anna muttered.

"Was there anyone Jessica knew who worked at the hotel? A friend?" Morgan asked, ignoring Anna's comment.

"No," Denise answered, shaking her head. "Not that I know of."

"Did she mention anyone hanging around the hotel she'd never seen before, anyone that was out of place? Someone paying a little bit too much attention to her?" Morgan asked.

Lindsay shook her head, "No. She's never at the hotel very long, she gets up early and come here, and then she stays late and drives back."

"There wasn't anything unusual in the last few days?" Rossi asked. "A car following her, maybe? Someone hanging around outside of your house late at night or early in the morning, when Jessica was arriving and leaving?"

Denise sighed, "No. There wasn't anything unusual. Everything was completely normal. She said goodbye, she was supposed to be heading back home this morning and that was the last time we saw her."

Morgan sighed, "You're absolutely sure?" he pressed. "There wasn't a car that you've never seen before? Anything unusual?"

Lindsay frowned, "…There was… that van last night." She said suddenly.

Anna furrowed her brows, "That's right… Last night when Jessie was leaving… there was a big van parked at the end of the street. I'd never seen it before. I thought it was a moving van, but it was after eleven and the van was black…"

"Did you get a look at the driver?" Rossi asked.

"…No." Denise shook her head. "It was dark out and the windows were tinted… You don't really think that whoever …" she trailed off, her voice cracking slightly. "You don't think that was him, do you?"

"We don't know, Mrs. Landing. It's a possibility." Morgan said, standing. "Thank you for your time. We're sorry to have to bother you again." He pulled out his cell phone as Denise led him and Rossi to the front door again.

"Hotch, it's Morgan. Jessica's family thinks they saw a black van parked at the end of the street last night. They'd never seen it before then…" He paused, listening to his boss. "Alright, I'll call her and Rossi and I'll head back to NCIS. Ok."

He turned to the older agent as they climbed into the car. "Hotch thinks we might have a suspect. He said to go back to NCIS and get Garcia to do a search on past cases… find out who owns a black van. And Agent Gibbs wants us to have his forensic tech double check everything… Apparently he doesn't quite trust the FBI…"

Rossi quirked a smile, shaking his head. "You noticed that too? I thought it was me…"

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_E/N: Hmm… So, I kind of feel good about this chapter. What do you guys think?_

_I promise, Reid, Tony, Kate and Prentiss and JJ will be in the next chapter. This chapter would've been uber long if I'd put them in it. I didn't realize that I'd written almost 3,000 words until I finished that last bit. I'm (obviously) trying something new with the time frames and just so you know, they won't all be in order. Some will be happening almost simultaneously and some will have happened earlier, just check the times, the story makes sense either way. There aren't any major skips and jumps, just a few minutes to an hour occasionally…_

_DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW!_


	3. Chapter 3

_A/N: Another huge thanks to all of you awesome reviewers and everyone who's added this to favorites and alert! Your support means a lot to me guys! Glad you're enjoying the story! Also, I'm so sorry for not being able to update everyday like I normally would. I'm hoping to get internet back soon (and I'm crossing my fingers and hoping that I get my laptop fixed too) Thanks for being patient!_

_WARNING: __This story may not be suitable for children under the age of 13 due to graphic violence, mild language, blood and possible gruesome crime scenes. Parents strongly cautioned. As if any of you would actually ask your parents if you could read this…_

_PLEASE REVIEW! Your reviews really do mean a lot to me guys!_

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**WEST VIRGINIA – DUMP SITE 11:15 A.M. EST**

Tony slid on a pair of sun glasses to block the glaring sunlight from his eyes and looked around the empty field. There was nothing there, not even a highway close by. They wouldn't have found the body at all if it hadn't been for two campers who chose the wrong place to set up camp. "So… Agent Prentiss…" Tony said slowly, walking up behind the dark haired woman. "How long have you been in the FBI?"

Prentiss turned to look at Tony for a moment but didn't answer the question, instead she asked one of her own. "Where was the body located when you arrived?"

"Over here," Kate said, leading them to the middle of the field. The thin grass there was slightly bent from the weight of Jessica's body and there were still blood splotches marring the golden dirt and leaves. "He dumped her like she was garbage."

"An unsub like this probably feels absolutely no empathy," Reid said, squinting around the dump site behind his sunglasses. "He's most likely a classic psychopath and a sexual sadist. He views the women he kills as objects and once he's done with them they're no better than garbage, which is why he doesn't take the time to dress them, clean them or pose them when he dumps the body."

Kate and Tony stared at Reid for a long moment; Tony's mouth was hanging slightly open. "…What kind of doctor are you?" he asked after a minute.

Reid blinked, "Um… I have three doctorates in Mathematics, Chemistry and Engineering." He explained quickly, having given the explanation dozens, if not hundreds, of times over the course of his career in the FBI.

"So, you're a genius." Kate said, nodding slowly. It made sense to her, but Reid opened his mouth as if to argue the point when Prentiss cut him off quickly.

"Yes, he is." She said, giving Reid a quick look, shaking her head and changing the subject. "So he's a vicious sexual sadist with sociopathic tendencies and no remorse whatsoever. That doesn't explain why the first three bodies were dumped outside of the Navy Yard, or why he decided to change things now…"

"Dumping the bodies outside of NCIS headquarters could be sending some kind of message…" Reid suggested.

"What though?" Prentiss frowned. "Is he trying to say 'You can't catch me' or 'Try to catch me'? And why dump the fourth body here, sixty miles away?"

"I think it might be because he wanted FBI presence in the case," Kate interjected.

Prentiss blinked, nodding in surprise. "You have profiling training?" she asked.

Kate nodded, "Yeah, it's required in the Secret Service."

"The Secret Service?" Prentiss's look of surprise turned to one of impressment. "That's amazing."

Kate shrugged, "It's not all it's cracked up to be," she admitted, smiling.

Tony frowned, glancing between the two of them. "'Oh, wow, the Secret Service, that's cool!' 'Oh, no, it's not as great as everyone thinks'…" he muttered sarcastically. "Could we get back to the dead girls and the psycho dumping bodies on our doorstep?"

Kate glared at him, her eyes narrowing behind her glasses. "DiNozzo, just because you haven't had a job for longer than two years –"

"Shall we not go there, Katelyn?" Tony snapped back, cutting her off.

Kate smirked at him, but didn't reply, instead turning back to Prentiss. "So, what reasons could this guy have for bringing the FBI into the case?" she asked.

"He could've been an unsub from a joint case you worked… Maybe he had a family member that was arrested." She suggested, frowning.

Tony sighed and walked away from the girls, over to where Reid was standing, studying something in the dirt. He wasn't quite kneeling down all the way. "Can you believe those two?"

Reid looked up, an oblivious look in his brown eyes. "Huh?" he glanced toward Kate and Prentiss. "Oh… Yeah, Agent Todd seems to know what she's doing."

Tony frowned, "You know she can't hear you, right?"

Reid nodded absently, brushing leaves gently out of his way, turning his attention back to the ground.

"So there's no point in trying to get on her good side," Tony said. "Complimenting her doesn't work if she doesn't hear it."

"I'm not trying to get on her good side," Reid frowned. "I was merely making an observation,"

Tony frowned at him, "Uh huh…." He looked at the dirt the younger man was studying, shaking his head. "What are you doing? The body was dumped over there," He motioned back to where Kate and Prentiss were talking.

"I know, but there's blood on these leaves," Reid pointed out. Tony frowned and knelt down to get a closer look. Sure enough, there were small, dried flecks of blood on the ground.

"Hmm… That's interesting." Tony murmured, brushing leaves away.

"He must've carried her through here from the trees…" Reid said, standing up, a grimace passing over his face for just a moment.

Tony glanced back toward the girls again, a small smile playing on his lips when he saw them still debating about the killer's motives. "I wonder if there's a trail…" he suggested. "Maybe we could follow it…?"

Reid blinked, "That's a good idea," he nodded. He started to turn and walk back toward Kate and Prentiss but Tony grabbed him quickly by the elbow. Reid frowned, turning back to the agent. "What?"

"We don't need to tell them just yet," Tony said. "They're so busy; wouldn't want to interrupt."

"But shouldn't we let them know where we're going?" Reid frowned, "Just in case something happens?"

"Nothing's gonna happen," Tony waved the idea away briskly. "Besides, we've got cell phones and we're just going to follow the trail, see where it goes. No sense bothering the girls with something that could be nothing."

Reid frowned, thinking. He was pretty sure that Agent DiNozzo only didn't want to tell Kate and Prentiss because he wanted to be able to show them up later. He thought it was a better – safer – idea to let them know what was happening, but Tony did have a point. They had cell phones and they weren't going very far anyway. He sighed, "I suppose…"

Tony grinned, "Great, c'mon." he let go of Reid's elbow and started into the woods, looking for dirt and leaves that had blood on them. Reid followed reluctantly, glancing back one last time at Prentiss and Kate. He pushed the branches out of his way and saw Tony several yards ahead of him. "Wait!" he called, holding his hands out to keep his balance. "Agent DiNozzo, slow down!"

**NCIS NAVY YARD 11:23 A.M. EST**

"How'd it go with the Landings?" JJ asked when she saw Rossi and Morgan getting off of the elevator.

"They were a little reluctant to talk to us, but they did remember that there was a black van parked near the end of the street before Jessica went missing." Morgan said. "Hotch wants us to get Garcia and the lab tech here to coordinate and find any closed FBI-NCIS joint cases where the unsub owns a black van…"

JJ frowned, "Why coordinate? Can't Garcia do it herself?"

"Apparently Agent Gibbs wants their tech to verify everything we get, just in case we made a mistake." Rossi said.

JJ frowned, "At least he's willing to listen to us… I had to threaten the reporters this morning to keep them from airing the story this afternoon. And I'm still not sure I can keep it off of the ten o'clock news."

"Don't worry, JJ." Morgan grinned at her. "If there's one thing I've learned from working with you all these years it's that you know how to handle the media better than anyone else."

JJ smiled, brushing her hair out her face. "Thanks, Derek."

"Do you know where the Forensics Lab is?" Rossi asked, glancing around the nearly empty office area. Hotch, Gibbs and McGee were talking to Thomas Fuller and Tony, Kate, Reid and Prentiss were still at the last dump site.

"Yeah, I was just there, actually." JJ said. "I'll show you the way,"

**NCIS NACY YARD – FORENSICS LAB 11:38 A.M. EST**

The Forensics Lab at the Navy Yard was smaller than the one they had a Quantico, but still bigger than either Rossi or Morgan had expected. They entered the small space to blaring music and Rossi actually covered his ears. "How does anyone work in here?" he asked over the noise. JJ smiled, shaking her head. She'd met Abby just a few minutes before they'd got gotten back.

She motioned to the black haired girl standing with her back to them wearing a white lab coat. "She seems to do fine," she pointed out, reaching out and tapping the girl on the shoulder.

Abby looked up, blinking and then grinning when she turned and saw the two other agents. "JJ!" she half yelled over the music. "I thought you were going back up to the office to wait for Gibbs to get back?"

JJ smiled and pointed to Rossi and Morgan, "They need to talk to you," she said loudly.

Abby grinned, "Oh, cool." She nodded. "I'm Abby…" She introduced herself.

"Agent Morgan," Morgan said, smiling. He took in the girls decidedly Goth attire and bobbing pigtails, reminded of a darker version of Garcia. "This is Agent Rossi."

Rossi nodded to her, but wasn't really smiling. "Could you turn the music down?" he asked.

Abby blinked, like she hadn't even realized it was that loud to begin with. "Sure," she hurried over to a speaker system and put the pause button. "Sorry… The music helps me focus."

"Really?" Rossi looked unconvinced, but held back and just shrugged it off. He could tell just from looking at her that she wasn't exactly conventional. He was reminded of the first time he'd met Garcia and found the same sentiment oddly appropriate. _"She's different."_

"What can I do for you? I just finished taking blood samples from the note that was crammed into Jessica's chest… Should have DNA in about 24 hours if I work fast… Not that I'm really expecting anyone else's blood to be there…"

"Hotch wants you and our Technical Analyst, Garcia, to coordinate a search to see in any unsubs from past NCIS-FBI cases drove a black van," Moran explained. "I can get her on the phone in –"

"Not necessary," Abby said, turning around quickly. "I'll get her up on the plasma, ASAP." She grinned as she typed quickly on the keyboard and a few moments later Garcia's smiling face and bright red hair appeared on the screen.

"What can I do for you, Crime fighters?" Garcia asked, not looking at the screen a first. She appeared to be busily typing away at something else. She turned and spotted them, then grinned. "I _love _your necklace," she said eyeing Abby's studded, chained dog collar, her eyes sparkling. There was a purple, rhinestone bat handing from one of the small silver chains.

Abby grinned, "Thanks." She smiled. "I like your necklace," She motioned to the bright purple bobble necklace Garcia was wearing.

Garcia grinned, glancing to Morgan, "Thanks." She said. "So, my wonderful Chocolate God, what are we doing?"

"Hotch and Agent Gibbs want you and, uh, Abby, to do a search of closed joint cases between NCIS and FBI and see if any of them drive a black van."

"That's not too specific," Garcia said, "Alright, I'm ready. You?"

Abby smiled, nodding. "Of course," She said.

The sound of the two women typing simultaneously was strangely rhythmic. They both looked up a minute later with frowns on their faces, "Nothing." They said. "There's one who drives a black truck," Abby added.

"And one who drives a green van," Garcia said. "But none who own a black van."

Morgan frowned, glancing to Rossi. "Could it've been stolen?"

"Would he risk that?" the older man asked. "He's been pretty careful up till now,"

"Then would he risk driving his own vehicle?" JJ asked. "I mean, doesn't he want to avoid anything connecting him to this to turn up?"

Rossi nodded slowly, "You're right, but still… I don't think he'd steal a car. That's too risky for him if the stolen car turns up."

"Maybe he borrowed it," Abby suggested. "If he's got family or friends who drive a black van then he could have just asked to borrow it for a little while."

"Ok, so expand your search to anyone with family who owns a black van," Morgan said.

Garcia and Abby nodded and immediately altered their search criteria. "Two." They said after a minute.

"Thomas Fuller's mother, Annette, owns a black Ford Windstar." Abby said.

"And Brian Terra's sister owns a black Honda Odyssey," Garcia said.

"Hotch and Agent Gibbs are talking to Thomas Fuller now," Rossi said. "Why don't we go talk to Brian Terra?"

"Baby Girl, address?"

"32 SW Birch Avenue," Abby and Garcia said at the same time. "I just sent the coordinates to your phone," Garcia added quickly.

Morgan grinned, his eyes going between the two techs. He shook his head, "Thanks, Baby Girl… Abby." He turned to follow Rossi as they started to leave and could hear Abby and Garcia talking to each other in interested voices. "JJ, wanna come with us?"

JJ thought about it and nodded, "There's not much else to do right now, sure." She said, hopping into the elevator behind the two men.

"So, why didn't you… warn us about Abby before we got there?" Rossi asked, still rubbing his ears. "I think my ears are still ringing."

JJ smiled, "I think Abby's the kind of person you can't really … prepare yourself for." She said. "She reminds of Garcia."

Morgan grinned, nodding. "They could be sisters,"

Rossi smirked and shook his head, "I never thought there could be another person like Garcia out there…"

**QUANTICO, VIRGINIA – THOMAS FULLER'S HOUSE 12:05 P.M. EST**

Thomas Fuller lived in a small house, alone. He was a scrawny man with mud colored hair that was thinning and graying severely. Gibbs and Hotch flashed their badges the second he opened the door but he seemed to instantly recognize Gibbs anyway. His eyes narrowed. "What are you doing here?" he demanded. "Trying to harass me again?"

"Harass you?" Gibbs frowned, "I didn't harass you, Tommy."

Thomas scowled, "And you brought the Feds again too,"

"Not my choice," Gibbs said. "Just like last time. And just like last time, I've got female Petty Officers being raped and it looks like it might be you…"

Thomas scowled, "It ain't me." He snapped. "I didn't do it then and I'm sure as hell not doing it now."

Gibbs's smile wasn't exactly comforting, "Well, Tommy, we've still got to talk to you. Would you rather do it here or at NCIS headquarters?"

Thomas scrutinized the agents' faces, passing over McGee, standing behind Hotch and Gibbs, quickly, and settling on Hotch, who was studying the man from behind his dark sunglasses. "If you don't got a warrant I ain't talking." He said gruffly.

"We can get a warrant," Hotch promised him. "All it takes is a call and I happen to know the judge… He doesn't really like guys like you."

Thomas studied Hotch, trying to figure out if he was lying or not. Whether he was scared, because of the steady, cold glares from Gibbs and Hotch, or whether he believed them, he stood aside and held the door open, motioning them inside. "Fine," he muttered.

He led them through a dingy hall to a cramped living room with two stained arm chairs, a folding chair and a worn looking couch. He took one of the arm chairs and Hotch and Gibbs took the couch. McGee made a face at the other arm chair and sat in the plastic folding chair, looking uncomfortable. "Where were you on April 15th, Tommy?" Gibbs asked, leaning forward. April 15th was the day that the first victim, Amanda Herring, was taken.

Thomas frowned, "That's like six months ago!" he protested. "How am I supposed to remember that?"

"Just answer the question." Hotch said, frowning at the man.

Thomas made a face at them, "I don't know… probably here, or at work."

"Work? Where do you work?"

"A gas station in town." Thomas snapped. "Can't get a job anywhere else thanks to you."

"It's not my fault you decided to rape two innocent women," Gibbs snapped back at him. "If you were at work would there be anyone to back up your story."

"I don't know!" Thomas scowled. "Jenny might've been working then too. Check the security tapes for all I care. I told you I don't remember."

"Alright, fine." Gibbs sat back, "Where were you on September 6th? That shouldn't be too hard to remember; it was three days ago."

Thomas thought about it for a minute, "I was at my mother's." he said. "My dad was sick and she called and asked me to come over. I was there all day."

"What about the 7th?" Gibbs pressed, frowning.

"I left my mom's at eight that morning and went to work, then came home and was here the rest of the day." Thomas said.

"Anyone who can vouch for that?"

"My mom and my dad were both at home the whole time and my manager, Joshua Kite, was at the store until an hour before I left." The man said, still frowning at the agents angrily.

Hotch's phone started buzzing and he pulled it out of his pocket, "Hotchner," he said. "Alright… Ok. Thanks, Morgan." He said quickly, closing the cell phone and turning back to Thomas. "Does your mother own a black van?"

Thomas spluttered and stared at them blankly, "What does that have to do with anything?"

"A black van was spotted down the street from where Jessica Landing was abducted before she was killed." Hotch said tersely. "Does your mother own a black van?"

Thomas pressed his lips together and nodded curtly, "Yeah, she does. It's in the shop right now though, the transmission's shot."

Gibbs and Hotch studied the man's face, "What shop?"

Thomas glared at them. "Fred's Auto on Third Street, a few miles down the road."

They nodded and stood, "Thank you for your time." Hotch said, following Gibbs, with McGee behind him, out of the house.

"Whatever," Thomas muttered.

"Do you think he was telling the truth, Boss?" McGee asked, frowning slightly to himself.

"That's what we're about to find out, McGee."

* * *

_E/N: So, what do you peoples think? Are they still in-character? I hope so… Though I'm not too thrilled about the Garcia-Abby scene. I just couldn't get what I had in my head to transition smoothly onto paper – computer screen, whatever…_

_Hope you liked it!_

_DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW!_


	4. Chapter 4

_A/N: Thanks so much, again, for all of your reviews guys!_

_YES, there will be whump, like I said at the beginning, but it's most likely a few chapters away… Don't worry, we're getting there!_

_WARNING: __This story may not be suitable for children under the age of 13 due to graphic violence, mild language, blood and possible gruesome crime scenes. Parents strongly cautioned. …I'm wondering how many people actually read these things… hmm…_

_PLEASE REVIEW!_

* * *

**QUANTICO, VIRGINIA – FRED'S AUTO 12:21 P.M. EST**

Gibbs, Hotch and McGee walked through the garage doors of the small, dingy auto shop and looked around. Except for a few cars and vans, the place seemed empty until a loud, metallic clang turned their attention to the farthest corner where a well built man wearing coveralls stood, bending over to pick up a fallen tool.

Gibbs frowned as they approached the man, "Are you… Fred?" he asked.

The man, looking surprised, blinked. "Huh?" he asked, his brows knitting together.

"Do you run this place?" Hotch clarified.

"Oh, yeah… I'm not Fred though. Fred was my brother. He died about two years ago and I've been running it since then. I'm George." He held out a large hand, covered in motor oil and then pulled it back awkwardly when no one took it. "So… How can I help you gentlemen?" he asked in an attempt to get rid of the awkward tension.

"Do you have a Ford Windstar here that belongs to Annette and Jacob Fuller?" Gibbs asked, flashing his badge and glancing around at the vehicles. There wasn't a black van that he could see.

George paused, thinking about it for a minute, nodding. "Yeah, I do." He said. "She brought in here about three days ago. The transmission needs work… Though, in my opinion she just needs a new transmission, but she won't listen to me. It'll cost her more in the end…" he shook his head. "What's that got to do with anything?"

Gibbs and Hotch didn't answer, both already walking away, searching for the van in question. McGee gave the man a nervous smile, "It's, uh, possibly connected to a murder investigation." He explained.

"Murder? Annie Fuller?" George frowned. "I've known her for years, she wouldn't hurt a fly."

"Not her, her son." Gibbs said, pausing next to a dark blue Chevy. "Where exactly is her van?"

"Out back," George motioned with a jerk of his head. "But what does Tom have to do with any murders? He just got out of prison…"

"We know," Gibbs said, frowning and walking toward the back doors, Hotch right in front of him, McGee behind him.

George followed, looking puzzled. "Look, I think you've got the wrong guy," he continued. "Tom's not the nicest guy, but he'd never kill anyone."

"Do you even know what he was in jail for before?" Hotch asked, looking over his shoulder at the man when Gibbs spotted the Ford and made his way over to it.

"Sure… He did some bad things, but like I said, he's no killer."

"He raped two innocent women," McGee said, sounding surprised and shocked. "That's not 'bad things'…. That's… that's…"

"He also beat them nearly to death," Hotch interrupted. "And I've seen it happen more times than I want to count. When rapists get out of prison, they start killing to cover up their crimes."

"I'm telling you, Tom's not a killer. I've known him since I was ten." George insisted. "His family lived right next door to mine, we grew up together."

Gibbs and Hotch ignored the comment, peering into the windows of the van. They were tinted, just like Jessica's family had said the windows on the van they'd seen was. "I can't see anything, but we can get this to Abby and she'll be able to tell us more." Gibbs said.

"Now, wait, you can't just –"

"We have a warrant," Hotch interrupted, pulling the paper out of his inside coat pocket.

George took the paper and read over it, frowning. "Tom's not a killer," he insisted again, shaking his head. "Take it then, but you won't find anything."

**QUANTICO, VIRGINIA – BRIAN TERRA'S HOUSE 12:43 P.M. EST**

Brian Terra lived in a nice house and owned an expensive looking car. "Wonder what he does for a living?" Rossi mused.

"According to Garcia, he married an attorney. He doesn't exactly fit the profile, he was released from prison two and a half years ago, but… maybe he was patient. He did attack four women…" Morgan said, pushing his sun glasses farther up his nose as they walked up the stone paved walk way.

"His wife must make more than we do," JJ said, shaking her head. Then she spotted a plastic toy truck lying in the grass. "Oh God, he has kids…" she half whispered, looking pale.

Rossi shook his head at the sight of the toy, "Do you think the wife knows about his past?"

"If she doesn't she will soon," Morgan said, rapping on the door with his knuckles rather than use the gold colored knocker. There were running footsteps in the house and the door was opened by a tall man dressed in nice clothes, holding a squirming two year old boy in his arms. He frowned when he was the agents standing there.

"Can I help you?" he asked, his eyes sweeping between the three of them.

They showed him their badges and his frown turned into a scowl. He sat his son down and gave him a gentle push back into the house. "Why don't you go watch Dora, ok?" The little boy took off on wobbly legs and Brian turned back to the agents. "What are you doing here?" he asked, a harsh edge to his voice. "I already served my time, I'm out and I have a new life now."

"It would seem so," Rossi said, glancing into the house behind the man. "And a nice one at that…"

Brian frowned, "I know, and I'd like to keep it that way, so please leave."

"We can't do that just yet, Mr. Terra." Morgan said, stepping forward slightly. "We need to talk to you. It'll just take a few minutes, is that alright?"

"Fine," Brian muttered, pressing his lips together tightly. "Come in,"

He led them down a wide hall to a large, bright living room. They could hear the sounds of _Dora the Explorer _playing in the next room. "What exactly do you want to talk to me about?" Brian demanded, sitting down in a large leather arm chair.

"Two things," JJ said, "Where were you September sixth at around eleven o'clock?"

"And does your sister own a black van?" Morgan finished, studying the man carefully.

Brian looked confused, "Yeah, Liz has had her Honda for like six years… And I was at the hospital the sixth; Will was running a fever and Michelle and I took him to the emergency room when it reached 100."

"Where is your sister's van now?" Rossi asked, leaning forward slightly.

"At her house I suppose… I haven't talked to her at all since I was arrested. She thinks I'm guilty because of you people." Brian snapped, a dark look passing over his face.

"You were found guilty, Mr. Terra," Morgan told him. "We had your DNA and the victims testified that you were the man who attacked them."

"I was set up!" Brian almost shouted, his face getting red. He grimaced, closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "And whatever you think I did this time, I didn't do it. Now leave."

Morgan and Rossi frowned, pressing their lips tightly together, but standing all the same. JJ, however, remained sitting, a puzzled look on her face. "Mr. Terra, does your wife know about what you did?" at the look he shot her, she sighed and said, "Does she know what you were in prison for?"

"…No." he hesitated. "No, she doesn't know I was ever in prison." He admitted.

"And you wouldn't want her to know, would you?" JJ asked, raising a brow.

"…No."

"Then please cooperate. We're trying to do our jobs, Mr. Terra. There are innocent women being killed and it would be easier on all of us if you just answered out questions."

Brian looked shocked, "Killed?" he spluttered. "I would never kill anyone! I wouldn't –"

"Then you'll cooperate with us," Morgan interrupted him. "Now, where is your sister?"

Brian sighed, "She lives in New York," he said. "Albany."

Morgan frowned, pressing his lips together and glancing at JJ and Rossi, shaking his head fractionally. "That wasn't so hard, was it?" he asked, motioning for the other two to follow him. "Thank you for your time. We'll let you know if we need to talk to you again."

**WEST VIRGINIA – DUMP SITE TRAIL 12:45 P.M. EST**

"Are you still back there?" Tony called over his shoulder, squinting his eyes in search of more blood. As they'd gotten farther away from the clearing, the blood trail had gotten harder to spot thanks to the shade from the canopy of trees overhead.

"Yeah," Reid called, before nearly tripping over a tangled root. "I'm behind you." He sounded even farther back than he'd been the last time Tony had looked back to check. They'd been walking for a while, it was at least a half mile and Reid was starting to worry. Kate and Prentiss were still back at the dump site and had to have noticed their absence by now.

Tony stopped for the fourth time and turned to watch the skinny young man stumble and trip over the rough ground. "C'mon, you're moving too slow; we could've covered twice this much ground if you weren't stumbling."

Reid sighed, shaking a thorny vine off of his ankle and ignoring the other agent. It took him about three minutes, but he finally caught up to Tony and they started moving again. They'd only gotten about ten feet when the bramble opened up to a slightly muddy trail. One set of tire treads and a set of foot prints marred the ground, along with the end to their blood trail. Tony grinned, "We found out how he got out here," he said, kneeling down to examine the dirt. "You got a cell phone?" he asked, glancing up at Reid.

Reid pulled his phone out, "I do, yeah."

"Call Agent Prentiss… tell her what we found. We need to get casts made of these tire treads," He pulled the camera around his neck up and snapping a few pictures of the scene.

Reid nodded, already holding the phone to his ear and talking quickly into the phone. Prentiss wasn't exactly happy to hear that he and Tony had wondered off, but he stumbled over his explanation and she seemed to understand. He told her how to find them and she and Kate said they were making their way to them with the equipment.

"She didn't sound happy," Tony noted, standing up and cracking his neck.

Reid frowned at him, "She wasn't. I don't usually just vanish without telling the team where I'm going. None of us do… It's not safe."

"You weren't alone." Tony pointed out, "And you've got a gun…" Though he couldn't help but think the kid didn't exactly look like he knew how to use a gun, he'd gotten into the FBI somehow.

Reid shook his head, not looking convinced. "You really should at least let your partner know."

Tony shrugged, "It's not like we ran into a burning building, kid." He said. "We followed a trail of blood. We didn't even walk a whole mile."

Reid pressed his lips together but didn't respond, instead looking around the dim area, "The trail must lead back out to the highway." He said after a minute. "Didn't Hotch call and say there was a van spotted not far from Jessica's family's house?"

"Yeah… And I don't think a van would've been able to get all the way out here." Tony said, frowning.

"So maybe he has another vehicle."

"He'd have to if he drove her body out here without getting stuck or being seen…" Tony said, looking down the end of the trail. "A truck maybe…"

Reid nodded, "We can get Garcia to run a check when we get back to NCIS headquarters."

"I'm pretty sure Abby could do it," Tony said.

"Abby?"

"Our lab tech," Tony explained. "She can do it, probably in half the time of your tech."

Reid smiled slightly, shaking his head. "You've never met Garcia," he said.

Tony grinned, "And you've never met Abby."

**WEST VIRGINIA – DUMP SITE 12:56 P.M. EST**

Prentiss shook her head, snapping the phone shut. "Where are they?" Kate asked, a frown on her face. They'd realized Reid and Tony were missing several minutes ago and they'd been screaming for them since then. Prentiss had considered calling Hotch, but Kate was certain that Tony was fine. If he was in trouble, there would've been some indication that something had happened. She tried to keep Prentiss calm, but the other woman still seemed worried about Agent Reid.

Kate wasn't sure why, but it was obvious that she was very uncomfortable with the young man being gone. Something must've happened to make her feel that way. Then she'd gotten the phone call and started yelling. "They found a trail of blood; the unsub carried her from somewhere in the woods. Agent DiNozzo suggested that they follow it and they found tire treads in the dirt. They need a kit to make molds of the tread."

Kate made a face, "It's in the truck," she said. "I'll get it," Prentiss followed the other woman back to the truck and helped her carry the bags, smiling slightly. "…Still, it was pretty good thinking on Agent DiNozzo's part." She pointed out.

Kate smiled, "Yeah… And in typical DiNozzo fashion he does it in the most inconvenient way possible."

Prentiss chuckled as they made their way back to the clearing. "Reid said it was over here by the tree line. And there's a lot of roots and weeds, so be careful."

Kate nodded, stepping carefully through the branches, "He seems like a sweet guy,"

Prentiss smiled, "He is," she said. "He's… a little different, but very sweet."

"Does he have a girlfriend?"

Prentiss thought about it, "I don't think so… there was a bartender a few months ago… actually, almost a year ago. But I don't know if anything ever happened between them. He doesn't really talk much about his private life."

Kate smiled, "Must be nice… not having to listen to all of the intimate details of your coworker's life…"

Prentiss laughed lightly, "Reid's a very… private person. … Actually, we all kind of are in the BAU."

"Funny… I would've pegged you all as close friends." Kate said, frowning.

"We are," Prentiss said. "I think that's why. We know things about each other no one else knows, but we don't go around getting into each other's business… well, except Garcia." She smiled slightly. "We're like a family, honestly. But at work we don't talk about our private lives."

"At work?" Kate thought about that. "Does that mean you talk outside of work then?"

"We get together sometimes outside of work," Prentiss nodded. "It helps to realize that there's more to life than the bad guys,"

"I can imagine," Kate nodded.

* * *

_E/N: Hmm, a little friend-like moment there at the end there. Not sure how I feel about this chapter… I hope you guys enjoyed it! And of course, I hope the NCIS team was in-character… Not sure about Kate… ugh, it's not easy getting them right._

_BTW, I didn't (at first) intend for the brothers who owned the Auto shop to be named Fred and George, or for Fred to be dead :'( BUT, after I established that Fred was gone, the fist name I thought of for the brother was George… I couldn't help it, I'm re-reading "Deathly Hallows' & it just HAPPENED! XD_

_Thanks so much for your reviews guys! Please let me know what you think!_

_DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW!_


	5. Chapter 5

_A/N: Thanks so much for all of your reviews, favorites and alert adds! I'm glad y'all are still enjoying the story! I'm hoping that I'm getting the characters right, it feels like it gets a little easier to write them with every chapter!_

_WARNING: This story may not be suitable for children under the age of 13 due to graphic violence, mild language, blood and possible gruesome crime scenes. Parents strongly cautioned. Do you think anyone really pays attention to these things? Hmm… PUPPIES ARE CUTE! _

_Also… I'm losing my mind w/all this senior stuff… ordering my cap and gown and tassel and sending out college applications and finding as many grants and scholarships as possible… that on top of my AP classes and building an entire website for my Digital Design class is driving me insane and I've discovered an intense hatred for HTML code… You can disregard that; I needed to vent a little…_

_PLEASE REVIEW! Your opinions matter to me peoples!_

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**NCIS NAVY YARD – FORENSICS LAB, GARAGE 1:09 P.M. EST**

Abby studied the black van, smiling. "It's not really my type, but it's the thought that counts…" she turned to grin at the annoyed look on Gibbs's face. Hotch, McGee, Morgan, JJ and Rossi stood behind him.

"Abby," Gibbs warned, frowning at her.

She sighed, turning back to the van. "There are no noticeable signs of blood… But I haven't looked beneath the surface yet." She said. "There isn't really a lot of room to put a person in the back, not with the seat up anyways. But it could've been removed, I suppose. I did find a three month old, half eaten slice of pizza though." She grinned again, "The mold on that could've been toxic…"

"Abby," Gibbs growled.

She sighed again and slid her goggles back over her eyes, "Patience is a virtue, Gibbs." She told him. "And it's gonna take at least a day to tear this thing apart and get results back…"

Gibbs pressed his lips together, "McGee, help Abby." He snapped. "She can work twice as fast with someone else."

Abby made a face and McGee nodded, "On it, Boss." He said, hurrying to get a jumpsuit and pair of gloves on. Gibbs turned to the other agents, "What were you able to find out?" he asked, leading the way to the elevator.

"Brian Terra's sister is in New York. We talked to her, there's no way she leant him her vehicle." Morgan said, keeping in step with Hotch and Gibbs easily.

"And Garcia checked over the security footage from the hospital," Rossi said. "He and his wife were at the hospital from ten that night to nearly one in the morning."

Gibbs frowned, looking at Hotch. "So our best suspect is still Thomas Fuller…"

Hotch looked skeptical. "I don't think he's our guy," he said slowly.

Gibbs nodded slowly, almost seeming reluctant to agree with the other man. "Neither do I… But he's the only one who fits your profile."

"We haven't actually developed a full profile," Morgan pointed out. "We've only gotten a general, preliminary profile."

Gibbs still looked skeptical, "How long is supposed to take for you to give us a real profile then?" he demanded.

"We need to talk to Reid and Prentiss first; see what they found at the crime scene." Hotch said, stepping off the elevator as it stopped and following Gibbs as he walked briskly to his desk.

"That reminds me… Have any of you heard from them? They've been gone since this morning." JJ asked, frowning.

"I talked to Reid about an hour ago, to let them know what was going on…" Hotch said, looking around the room. "I thought they would've been back by now."

Gibbs frowned, pulling out his cell phone and flipping through his contacts until he found Tony's number and calling.

"_Yeah, Boss?" _Tony answered, sounding a little out of breath.

"DiNozzo, where exactly are you?"

"_Still at the crime scene, Boss." _Tony replied.

"It's taking those profilers that long to look at an empty field?" Gibbs scowled.

"_Uh… not exactly… Agent… err, Dr. Reid noticed some blood drops near the tree line. We followed it and found a dirt road that leads out to the highway. It's probably the way the killer drove in. We were taking pictures and making casts of the treads…"_

"And you decided not to call and let us know because…"

"_Uh… well, I was getting around to it, Boss. We figured that you were probably still busy with that Fuller guy and his van. We didn't want to interrupt anything. I was going to call you when we got back to the truck…"_

"Were you? Then where are you now?"

"_On the trail, heading back to the clearing. We're taking the supplies back to the truck."_

"How much longer, DiNozzo?" Gibbs demanded.

"_Well… Boss, it takes about thirty minutes for the casts to set and we poured then about five minutes ago… so…"_

"As soon as those casts set, you and Kate better be in that truck with the Profilers, on your way back to the Navy Yard, understand?"

"_I understand, Boss. We will be. I'm really sorry for not calling –"_

The rest of his apology was cut off when Gibbs snapped his phone shut. "They're making some casts of tire tracks they found. They think it could be the killer's…" he told them, frowning. "It's gonna be a little while before they're back."

**WEST VIRGINIA – DUMP SITE TRAIL 1:13 P.M. EST**

"-for not calling you sooner," Tony stopped, shaking his head and closing the cell phone. "Gibbs wants us to get back to NCIS headquarters, ASAP," he said, glancing back toward Reid, who was carrying one of the bags. Tony was carrying the other two, balancing both awkwardly on one arm while he clipped his phone back to his belt. They'd left Kate and Prentiss back at the end of the trail to watch the casts.

Reid stumbled, nearly tripping again, and frowned. "Have they found something?" he asked.

Tony shook his head, "Don't know." He replied. "Maybe. Either way, as soon as the casts set, we've got to get going." He glanced back when Reid almost fell again. "Are you sure you can carry that?"

"I'm fine." Reid insisted. "It's not that heavy, it's just these roots. They're tangling me up…"

Tony frowned, "Are you always this clumsy?" he asked, continuing forward at a slightly slower pace so that Reid could keep up. "Isn't that, like, a job hazard in the FBI?"

Reid sighed, "I'm a little uncoordinated," he admitted slowly. "I'm not clumsy…"

Tony glanced back at the fumbling younger man and shook his head. "You could've fooled me."

Reid scowled, ignoring the comment and focusing instead on not losing his footing as he maneuvered the tangled trail ungracefully. It wasn't as if Agent DiNozzo wasn't right… but he reminded Reid a little bit of a sarcastic, more annoying version of Morgan and it was a little bit wearing to have to listen to sometimes.

"Hey, Doc," Tony suddenly called over his shoulder. "Why exactly did you join the FBI anyway?"

Reid thought about it, "Because it's what I've always wanted to do," he answered. "I wanted to help people."

"You couldn't have helped people another way? Some cancer research center or something?" Tony asked, frowning. "Seems more logical for a guy like you…"

"I could have." Reid agreed, "But I didn't want to. This was the best way I could think to help people…"

"Uh huh…" Tony seemed interested, nodding slowly.

"Why did you join NCIS?" Reid asked.

Tony opened his mouth to answer, and then frowned. "Probably the same reason you're in the FBI." He said. "I wanted to help people… And I wanted to protect people from the bad guys."

Tony could almost hear the other agent's hesitation, "But… when the case is a murder case… the victim is dead." He pointed out. "It's too late to protect them."

"True…" Tony agreed. "But it isn't too late to give them justice. Or to protect other victims. Isn't that what you do?" he turned to see the younger man frowning, his eyes narrowed like he was thinking hard. He hoped he didn't forget to watch where he was going… Almost as soon as he thought that, Reid's foot caught on a root he hadn't seen and he went sprawling to the ground, nearly slamming his face into a rock. He just managed to throw his hands out to stop the impact, scraping his palms on twigs and rocks as he landed.

"Ow…" he wheezed out, wincing painfully.

Tony dropped the bags he was carrying and hurried back over to the other agent, "Are you alright, kid?" he asked, kneeling to help him up. Reid shook the hand off of his shoulder and pushed himself up into a sitting position.

"I'm fine," he managed to hiss through clenched teeth. Everything was starting to throb, especially his knee. He couldn't imagine how swollen it was by now… His doctor had warned him to stay off of it and not do anything too strenuous and as usual, being stubborn, he'd ignored the doctor. He was sure he was going to pay for that in morning when the real soreness kicked in.

Tony watched Reid struggle to stand up, a pained grimace flickering across his face and he took the younger man's wrist, helping him up. Reid winced and massaged his swollen kneecap, brushing the dirt off of himself. "Thanks," he muttered, his eyes closed against the waves of throbbing pain. He took a deep breath and leaned down to pick up the fallen bag.

Tony beat him too it, "I'll carry it." He said, "You're gonna get yourself killed just walking back to the truck." He frowned at Reid, shaking his head. "How do you survive in the FBI?"

Reid didn't reply, instead sighing and making a face when Tony carried all three bags, struggling slightly under their weight for a moment, and lead the way once again, back to the clearing. He noticed that the agent moved much slower now, whether from the extra burden of the three bags or out of concern for Reid, he wasn't sure. And Reid figured asking wouldn't get him a straight answer anyway. He frowned, sighing as he carefully made his way to the dump site. He hated feeling useless… And right then, he felt completely useless. Like dead weight. He hoped there wasn't going to be more hiking like this involved in the case, because he was sure he wouldn't be able to survive it.

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_E/N: So… uh… not sure how I feel about the chapter. Sort of iffy… I miss Kate and Prentiss, but I tried writing in another scene w/them just talking, but I couldn't get it to work and they're not really doing much right now anyway._

_Hope y'all liked it! Let me know!_

_DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW!_


	6. Chapter 6

_A/N: Thanks so much for all of the reviews guys! I'm glad you're enjoying the story so far! I hope I can live up to your expectations!_

_WARNING: This story may not be suitable for children under the age of 13 due to graphic violence, mild language, blood and possible gruesome crime scenes. Parents strongly cautioned. _"If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands…" _Yeah… I'm feeling reeeaaaallly random right now…_

_PLEASE REVIEW! I don't have much, but I'll give you my undying love… y'know, if I can… LOL_

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**WEST VIRGINA - CLEARING 1:42 P.M. EST**

"I wish someone would think of a way to make these things easier to lift," Kate muttered, gently prodding at the edge of the plaster cast. "I'm sort of wishing we'd let the boys stay here to do this, then we could be at the truck by now."

Prentiss smiled, kneeling next to her. "It's not so bad. And these are all we have to carry. Think of how heavy those bags were… I just hope Reid didn't hurt himself. He looked like he was going to topple carrying just that one bag."

Kate smiled, "Well, DiNozzo did give him the heaviest one." she pointed out, lifting one of the casts completely out of the ground. She brushed some patches of loose dirt off of it and studied it, "I think Abby can get a good match from this."

Prentiss glanced up, lifting the other cast out of the ground and standing. "We can get Garcia to run a check on all the cars that this brand of tire is on."

"Abby can do that," Kate assured her. "And she's already right here at the Navy Yard."

Prentiss smiled, "I'm pretty sure Garcia can be in about a thousand different places at once." she told the other woman.

"I think I want to meet her," Kate said. "If she's anything like Abby I think I might have to rethink my whole philosophy on life."

Prentiss laughed, then glanced down at her buzzing phone. "I think we better get back," she said. "This is the second time Hotch has called…"

Kate shook her head, "Gibbs has called three times already. I'm actually surprised he hasn't called more."

"He seems a little impatient…" Prentiss nodded.

"He's not so much impatient as … he really wants to solve the case as fast as possible so that someone else doesn't get hurt on his watch."

"Sounds like Hotch," Prentiss nodded.

**NCIS NAVY YARD – FORENSICS GARAGE 1:55 P.M. EST**

"That's disgusting," McGee muttered, pulling out a half rotten apple core from underneath the back seat. He tossed it aside with a disgusted look on his face. How could someone leave something like that in their car?

"I know," Abby grinned. "We can't really say much for their hygiene, but it doesn't look like anyone was killed or transported in this van." She frowned then. "There aren't any traces of blood or foreign DNA and the hair we did find was grey… We still have to take it apart, but there would be more obvious signs of something, or of cleanup somewhere…"

McGee straightened up, shaking his head. "I guess Fuller isn't our guy then…"

"Did I say that?" Abby asked, raising a brow, grinning thoughtfully.

"But we didn't find any –"

"This van wasn't used to transport or kill any of the victims. But Fuller could've stolen a car. Or that van could've just been there because it was, I don't know, someone's family member visiting or something."

McGee frowned, "True, but it's not likely a coincidence. Besides, you know what Gibbs says about coincidences."

"He doesn't believe in them," Abby nodded. She turned, pressing her lips together thoughtfully. "I know. And his famous gut seems to be telling him that Fuller isn't the killer anyway." She sighed.

"Well, Gibbs said Tony and Kate were bringing back some casts of tread marks. You can compare those to these and other vans. We can narrow down the suspect list with that."

Abby nodded, "Do you think Gibbs would mind if I got Garcia to help me?"

"Garcia? The FBI tech?"

Abby nodded. "She's good."

McGee looked surprised, "If you say she's good she's got to be amazing."

Abby grinned, "And she had the most awesome purple necklace on…"

McGee shook his head, "How did I know she would be another Abby," he muttered. "Are all techs like that?"

"Like what?" Abby turned to face McGee, her brows raised in curiosity.

"Uh… Well… I just meant… You know… unique." McGee stuttered, frowning at her.

She laughed, "Unique huh? … I've heard worse." She grinned. "Should we tell Gibbs we didn't find anything."

"Do you think he'd take that well?" McGee frowned.

Abby thought about it. "You're right. You tell him." She said, grinning when she peeled the gloves off. "After all, aren't you the 'Special Agent'?"

**NCIS NAVY YARD 2:47 P.M. EST**

Kate eyed Reid with a light sort of smile on her face when they got off of the elevators in the NCIS offices. Tony and Prentiss had taken the casts to Abby so that she could get started on matching the treads. "What did you find?" Gibbs demanded the second he spotted them. Kate sighed and tossed her jacket on the back of her desk chair.

"The tire treads had to have been made by a truck or something with 4-Wheel Drive. The road was too rough to have driven a two-wheel drive vehicle down it."

"Which would rule out the black van Jessica's family saw…" Hotch murmured.

"Does that mean it wasn't our guy?" Gibbs frowned, turning to Hotch.

"Maybe…" Hotch nodded. "But it could also mean he's smart enough to have two separate vehicles."

"What, you mean one to abduct them and one to dump their bodies?" Gibbs scowled.

"Looks like it," Kate said, nodding.

"Where are the casts that you made?" Gibbs asked, frowning. They'd been gone over four hours; they'd better have gotten what they stayed there to get.

"Tony and Agent Prentiss are taking them to Abby now." Kate informed him. "We figured you wouldn't want to waste time."

Gibbs frowned, nodding. He was about to say something when his phone rang. "Gibbs," he answered gruffly, a scowl already forming. "What!" his face was suddenly livid, an angry red color. His jaw was so tight it might've shattered. "_Two _more? Where?" He swallowed, shaking his head. "Alright, fine, we're on our way."

He glared at the phone after he snapped it shut. "Two more bodies were just found. One about thirty miles north of here, and one in the park right across from the Navy Base. Two female Petty Officers. IDs were found on them…"

"Two?" Hotch frowned. "That doesn't make any sense."

"Well, that's what's happening. We'll just have to separate." He started to delegate the tasks when McGee got off of the elevator and hurried over to his desk. "McGee!" Gibbs barked. "Why aren't you helping Abby?"

"Um… well… uh, Boss, She's finished with the van for now. She said she didn't need help with the casts and Tony and Agent Reid were bringing them down to her…"

Gibbs narrowed his eyes, but didn't say anything. "McGee you're with me; Kate you go with Agent Hotchner…" He glanced to Hotch, allowing him to separate his own team.

"Rossi, you and JJ go with Agent Gibbs. Morgan, you and Rossi with me." He said. He glanced toward Reid and frowned, "Reid… what happened to you?"

The younger agent's shirt was wrinkled, his pants were stained with dirt and his hands were cut up and bruised slightly. Reid licked his lips and looked down at the marks on his palms. "I … uh, I fell." He admitted slowly. "I tripped on the trail; I'll be fine."

Hotch made a face, "You tripped? …How's your knee?" he demanded.

"It's fine. I'm a little sore." Reid insisted. "It's ok."

Hotch pressed his lips together. "You stay here." He said. He was about to ask where Prentiss and Tony were when Prentiss walked over to where they were standing.

"Where's DiNozzo?" Gibbs frowned.

Prentiss shrugged, "He, uh, said something about talking to Abby." She said. Gibbs scowled.

"Prentiss, you're with me." Hotch said. "They just found two more bodies."

"What?" Prentiss frowned, "But that –"

"I know." Hotch nodded. "We need to hurry."

Gibbs sighed, glancing toward the elevators. "Tell DiNozzo he can meet us at the scene. We don't have time to sit around and wait. I'll call Ducky on the way."

"Send him to your scene first," Hotch said.

Gibbs nodded, "I'm going to the Naval Base; you head out to Dale*."

Hotch nodded, checking his gun and making sure his clip was full. "Hotch, I'm really ok!" Reid argued, frowning.

"Stay here, Reid. I don't need you getting hurt in the field because you didn't listen to your doctor."

Reid made a face and sat down in one of the desk chairs. "I'm alright." He insisted. Hotch ignored him, already climbing into the elevator after Gibbs and the other agents.

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_*Dale doesn't exist to my knowledge. It might actually be a city in Virginia, but IDK. I just thought up the name off the top of my head._

_E/N: So… something's happening, wouldn't you say? It's not gonna be much longer before we get to where the "teaser" at the beginning of chapter one was. Just a chapter or two more. The killer's building up to something…_

_Hope y'all enjoyed it! I missed the Tony/Reid interaction in the chapter :( _

_And FYI, for those of you who asked, no, there will be no Tony/Reid slash, I'm sorry. You can pretend if you want, bc I have a feeling they're gonna get really close. Almost Morgan and Reid close…_

_DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW!_


	7. Chapter 7

_A/N: Thanks so much for all of the reviews guys! I'm glad you're still enjoying the story! We're getting pretty close to the whumpage now… It totally doesn't make me a bad person that I'm looking forward to writing it XD_

_WARNING: This story may not be suitable for children under the age of 13 due to graphic violence, mild language, blood and possible gruesome crime scenes. Parents strongly cautioned. Ah, the sweet, sweet sound of tortured cries for mercy… uh… I really hope my therapist isn't reading this LOL_

_PLEASE REVIEW!_

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**CRIME SCENE – NAVAL BASE 3:19 P.M. EST**

Gibbs frowned, pulling his gloves on, watching Ducky bent over the young woman's body. "It seems, at first glance that the cause of death here is consistent with the others…" Ducky said. "But these marks here, around her neck, are more consistent with strangulation…"

"Then why stab her?" McGee frowned, standing a few feet from the body, looking confused.

Ducky gently pressed his hand to her neck, "I'm not sure… But…" he paused, narrowing his eyes and leaning even closer to the body. "Oh, Dear Lord…" he gasped, shaking his head. "Jethro… I think she was frozen…"

Rossi and JJ both frowned, "What?" Rossi walked closer to the body, staring down at her. Gibbs knelt next to Ducky with a new scowl forming on his face, "What are you talking about, Duck?" he frowned.

"I can't be sure just yet," Ducky cautioned, "But… do you see the discoloration here, of her finger tips, her lips… They're slightly blue. She was definitely dead before she was stabbed, the petechiae around her eyes is a clear sign of strangulation… She was almost certainly strangled and it appears… frozen shortly thereafter."

"Why?" JJ frowned, looking to Rossi, who himself looked confused.

"I don't know, but she looks like the other victims. She fits the unsub's MO… but this doesn't…"

"Could this be a copy cat?" Gibbs asked, looking up at Rossi from where he was kneeling on the ground.

"Not likely," Rossi said, "JJ kept most of the details of the last murder out of the press and your team did a good job of keeping the investigation pretty tightly closed. There weren't any mentions of what was done to the victims, was there?"

"They did report that the women had been raped, but only the first victim's name was released to the press. The other families wanted this out of the news and it stayed out. It wasn't even released that they were stabbed." JJ answered.

"Then… what's the point of dumping two bodies on the same day?" McGee frowned, pursing his lips.

"Better question: why strangle her, freeze her and then stab her?" Gibbs asked, scowling around the crime scene. "Ducky, can you move the body?"

Ducky nodded, "I'm finished here. Mr. Palmer," he called, standing. He almost backed into the younger man, who was standing right behind him. "We need to get this young women back to the Morgue." He said, motioning to the still unidentified victim. "Jethro," he added over his shoulder, "I'm going to head to Dale as soon as we get our Jane Doe where she belongs. I believe Agent Hotchner is waiting for me there."

Gibbs nodded absently, barely hearing the doctor, consumed by the new, burning question in the back of his mind.

**NCIS NAVY YARD 3:35 P.M. EST**

Tony stepped off of the elevator and looked around the nearly empty office space, frowning. He spotted Reid sitting down at McGee's desk looking unhappy and bored. "Hey, Doc, where's everyone?" he asked, sitting down on the edge of the desk.

"Crime scenes." Reid replied. "While you were talking to Abby, two more bodies were reported in Dale and just a few miles from here near the Naval Base. Agent Gibbs said you could just meet them at the scene; they were in a hurry."

"Why aren't you with them?" Tony frowned, tapping his fingers against his knee.

Reid shrugged, making a face. "Hotch found out that I tripped while we were out in the woods and told me to stay behind. He didn't want me to get hurt."

"Geez, are they always so overprotective?" Tony muttered, shaking his head. He sighed, "Well… since we're the only ones here, wanna go annoy Abby?"

"You aren't going to go to the crime scene?" Reid asked, frowning.

"How long have they been gone?" Tony asked.

Reid thought about it, glancing at his watch, "Forty-eight minutes, thirty four seconds. Thirty five." He quickly corrected himself. Tony stared at him for a second, like he couldn't quite believe Reid really had it timed down to the second, then shook his head.

"They're probably almost done by now." he said. "They can fill us both in when they get back. Besides, Abby's all alone and apparently, you're the only member of your team she hasn't met yet."

Reid sighed, "I suppose…"

"Great, let's go." Tony slid off the desk and led the way to the elevators. Reid followed somewhat reluctantly. He could tell Tony probably would have rather been at the crime scene and he was either trying to annoy him or keep him company… Either way, Reid figured Agent Gibbs wouldn't be too happy if he didn't show up at the crime scene.

**CRIME SCENE - DALE, VIRGINIA 3:58 P.M. EST**

Hotch clipped his phone back to his belt, squinting against the sunlight. "The ME should be here soon." he said, looking around the nature park where the victim had been dumped. Unlike the first victims, but just like the other victim near the base, this Jane Doe had no ID on her, but she was partially dressed in her uniform and fit the same pattern - blond hair, green eyes, petite - as the others.

"Doctor Mallard seems to think the last victim was strangled rather than stabbed… and she may have been frozen." Hotch informed the others.

"Frozen?" Kate frowned, "Why would he freeze her?"

"That doesn't make any sense," Prentiss agreed. "He strangled her, froze her, and then dumped her?"

"No, he strangled her, froze her, _stabbed_ her and then dumped her." Hotch corrected.

"You're kidding," Morgan frowned. "What's the point?"

"A copy cat, maybe?" Kate suggested, frowning.

"The victimology is too similar," Morgan said. "The details weren't released to the press… It's got to be the same guy, but… why?"

"If he's out for revenge against NCIS and the FBI… maybe he just wanted to be able to move up his time table," Kate said. "I mean, the FBI is here, which seems to be what he wanted. Now maybe he's dumping these two bodies to … to show us what we're dealing with."

"So he kept a body on reserve?" Prentiss frowned, kneeling down next to the body, careful not to touch anything yet since Ducky hadn't had a chance to examine her body. "He'd have to have been planning this for… months at least."

She studied the stab wounds on the woman's body, her dark eyes narrowing. "There isn't a lot of blood flow from these wounds," she said… "And … there are some bruises on her neck. You don't think he could've done the same thing to her too?"

Hotch made a face, clearly not happy about where this case was going. "We'll have to wait for Dr. Mallard. He can tell us what happened once he does an Autopsy."

"This still doesn't make any sense," Morgan pointed out. "It's two huge changes in MO in as many days. … Three if you count him dumping two bodies at one time. He's building up to something much bigger…"

"But what…?" Hotch frowned, his eyes darkening as he stared down at the body in the dirt, her eyes glazed over with cold death.

**NCIS NAVY YARD - FORENSICS LAB 4: 05 P.M. EST**

"So if you guys hunt down the most twisted people in the country… you've met some really hinky dudes, right?" Abby asked, glancing up at Reid and Tony from over the microscope where she was examining a square of fabric from the van in garage.

Reid thought about it, nodding slowly. "You could say that," he answered. "I mean, the BAU deals with some of the worst criminal offenders in the country and most of them have some psychological disorder. Sociopaths, psychopaths, sexual sadist, arsonists, terrorists… We've seen our fair share of, um, 'twisted people'."

Abby grinned, "That is so cool. Garcia was telling me about this one case you guys had where this dude tattooed his whole body with the faces of the girls that he killed."

Reid nodded, remembering the case. "It wasn't his _entire _body, but he was pretty close, yeah."

Abby shook her head, "I'd kill to have your job just for one day." she sighed.

"Getting tired of NCIS, Abs?" Tony frowned.

Abby smiled at him, "Of course not," she assured him. "We get our share of hinky stuff, but it's not, like, every single day."

"Oh, it's not that exciting every day at the BAU," Reid quickly informed her. "There are some days when we don't have anything to do but paper work and consults."

Tony shook his head, "That sounds incredibly boring."

Reid shrugged, "I don't mind the paper work… If Morgan and Prentiss would stop slipping theirs onto my desk I'd be finished with most of it before lunch."

"Well, maybe _you_ would." Abby said. "But aren't you, like, a genius? Garcia said you could read 20,000 words a minute, that's probably more than I can read in an hour."

"Well, actually, our conscious minds process around sixteen bits of information per minute, but our unconscious minds process around eleven million bits per minute." Reid explained. "So, you actually _could _read that fast if…" he trailed off, catching the look on Tony's face that he recognized as the same look Rossi, Prentiss and Morgan gave him when they really wanted him to shut up.

Abby, however, looked fascinated. "Cool. I actually did not know that…" One of her machines let out a high pitched beep and she hurried over to it.

"What's that?" Tony asked, looking curiously over toward the Goth lab tech.

"The results from the fiber test I did in Fuller's van…" She quickly deflated, however. "There were no foreign fibers detected. Just like I thought, that van couldn't have been what any of the victims were transported in. It's a waste of time to even tear the thing apart." She looked disappointed.

"Don't worry, Abs. We'll fine another car for you to tear apart…. Which reminds me, did you find anything from those tire treads?"

"Oh, right!" Abby rushed back over to the computer. "Those tires were manufactured in the Dodge factory and there are only three Dodge models that the tires are sold for." she read down the list, printing off a copy. "I sent them to Garcia right before you guys came in; she said she would get to work finding guys that fit your profile with those kinds of trucks."

Tony took the list and then passed it quickly to Reid when his phone started buzzing. "Yeah, Boss?" he paused. "Um, well, I was talking to Abby… Discussing the case and then Agent… Dr. Reid and I started talking and…. Right. It won't happen again, Boss. I'll head out to the - What? Another one?" he glanced toward Reid. "Oh… You want me to check it out? … But didn't his boss say -? Ok. Sorry, Boss. On it, Boss."

"Ooh, someone just got in trouble." Abby teased, grinning.

Tony made a face, "Make sure you've got your stuff Doc," he said, turning to Reid. "An anonymous tip just came in. There's apparently a third body out at the Nature Reserve and we've got to check it out."

"Hotch told me to -"

"I know, but I can't go without back up and you're the only one here. You are a field agent, aren't you?" Tony asked, raising a brow.

Reid nodded.

"Alright then, let's go. This guy's dropping bodies left and right today, we need to hurry."

* * *

_E/N: BUM BUM BUM…. yeah, I'm evil, what are you gonna do about it?_

_So, anyone wanna guess what's happening in chapter 8? Also… is there a nature reserve in Quantico? I have no idea, but if there is, that's where the unsub dumped this newest body…_

_DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW!_


	8. Chapter 8

_A/N: Thanks so much for all of your awesome reviews guys! You rock! I hearts you forever and always…_

_Guess what! Whumpage is on it's way… Not sure if it'll be in this chapter or if it'll start in chapter nine. It'll probably start in this chapter, but not much. Chapter nine will be pretty bad though…_

_WARNING: This story may not be suitable for children under the age of 13 due to graphic violence, mild language, blood and possible gruesome crime scenes. Parents strongly cautioned. I am sooo looking forward to when that 'graphic violence' starts… err… yeah…_

_PLEASE REVIEW!_

* * *

**NCIS NAVY YARD - MORGUE 4:46 P.M. EST**

Ducky frowned over the two bodies lying in his morgue. Both of them appeared to have been frozen after being killed. And strangled rather than stabbed - at least fatally. It didn't make any sense. He had sent blood samples to Abby to find out if the blood vessels showed signs of being frozen, but he was already certain that they did. And the fact that they had been frozen made it impossible for him to give Gibbs a time of death, something that was clearly aggravating the NCIS agent.

"Why the hell would he start strangling them?" Gibbs scowled, glancing toward Hotch, who himself was frowning over the bodies.

"I don't know," It seemed to bother the Unit Chief to not have the answer. "It doesn't make any sense for him to freeze them… Agent Todd suggested that he might've kept their bodies 'on reserve' for whatever it is that he's been building up to…"

"That means that he's about ready to put his revenge in action then," Gibbs frowned, looking very unhappy. "That is, if this guy really is out to get revenge on NCIS… Fuller's van was clean and every other suspect we have has a rock-solid alibi."

"I know," Hotch muttered. "It doesn't make any sense. He clearly went out of his way to get the FBI here and once we got here, he starts changing his routine. It's like he's putting on a show, but he waited six months to bring us in. He's been aiming this directly at NCIS since he started killing…"

"Which is why your team thinks he was one of the guys we got on a joint case. But there aren't many of those."

"No there aren't…" Hotch murmured. "So maybe it wasn't a joint case. … He might have known that you don't want FBI interference in your cases and dumped the body just to -"

"To piss me off," Gibbs muttered. "Just like I said before."

Hotch's lips drew up in a dry smile. "Yes, but then he changes nearly his entire MO once we get here. Why? To confuse us? To toy with us?"

"Why is the why so important. I want to know who." Gibbs nearly snarled.

"If we can figure out the why, we can tell you who." Hotch pointed out. He sighed and turned back to Ducky, "Was there any sort of message with these bodies?" he asked.

The doctor shook his head, "None that I've found," he said. "Tony and Agent Reid are checking out that anonymous tip you got earlier though."

Gibbs grunted, "It's probably just a false alarm." he said. "Three bodies in one day, so far apart…"

Hotch nodded in agreement. "Someone probably heard about these newest discoveries and saw something they weren't sure about so they called it in."

Gibbs sighed, turning to Ducky again. "If you do find anything, call us ASAP."

"Of course, Jethro." Ducky assured him. "I was about to run the dental records of our Jane Does if you want to stick around a few moments."

Gibbs debated mentally and finally nodded. "Alright," he nodded.

**NCIS NAVY YARD - FORENSICS LAB 4:52 P.M. EST**

Abby frowned, staring down at the bloodied note that they'd found inside of Jessica Landing's chest. "Something interesting, Abby?" McGee asked, frowning over her shoulder. She turned around, twisting her face at him, JJ and Prentiss, who were standing with him. "McGee, look at this note." she said, motioning to the paper.

He squinted at it, frowning. "I… Uh, what about it?" he asked, glancing confusedly at her.

"The blood…" Abby said, pointing out the many blood stains on the crumpled paper.

"Yeah… it was inside of a woman's chest cavity." McGee said slowly, frowning at her like there was something wrong with her.

"I know that, McGee." She sighed, rolling her eyes. "Look at this blood stain though," she insisted, pointing to a small smudge on the corner of the note.

He started to lean closer when Prentiss leaned over from the other side, "Is that a fingerprint?" she asked, glancing up at Abby.

Abby grinned, "Very good, Agent Prentiss." she nodded. "I think it _is _a fingerprint. I noticed it after Tony and Agent Reid left. I was bored and figured maybe there was some sort of handwriting pattern that I could find when I noticed that smudge in the corner of the paper. I'm going to run a fingerprint scan, see if anything comes up."

Prentiss smiled, "Good, if he's in the system, and he probably is, we'll find him."

"Looks like we can call Tony and Agent Reid back from that wild goose chase," Abby said, smiling.

"Nah, let 'em check it," Prentiss said. "Besides, you never know. There might actually be a body out there."

**QUANTICO, VIRGINIA - NATURE RESERVE 5:23 P.M. EST**

Tony squinted around the clearing, sighing. "The hikers reported the body down this trail." he said, motioning to the narrow opening that led to another clearing where campers and hikers sometimes stopped to take a break and eat a quick snack.

Reid looked wary of the trail, clearly not looking forward to another painful trek through the woods. "Are we going to carry the bags with us or leave them here for now?" he asked skeptically.

"Might as well take them with us," Tony said. "Save us the trip." He reached into the back of the truck and pulled out his bag. "I'll just carry this one for now. If we need Ducky, I'll come back and get the rest of them then."

Reid pursed his lips. "Alright," he nodded, putting his sunglasses on and looking around the clearing. He had to run to catch up when Tony started walking down the trail. It was warm outside and he rolled up his sleeves, turning his head this way and that, studying the trees and bugs.

There wasn't much sunlight, thankfully, so he took off his sunglasses and stumbled along after Tony. "So, why did you decide you wanted to help people?" he called over his shoulder.

"What?" Reid frowned, confused.

"You said you wanted to help people; that was why you became an FBI agent. Why did you want to help people?" Tony explained, turning around and walking backwards for a minute before turning back around and walking right.

"Oh… Um, well… I just wanted to help people. I wanted to make the world a better place."

"Ok, so why Profiling?" Tony asked. "What made you decide to do that?"

Reid frowned, "I… I wanted to understand how people's minds worked, how… how mental illness and other certain things affect the decisions people make and… I guess I wanted to understand what makes people do the terrible things that they do."

"Why are you so interested in mental illness?" Tony frowned, glancing behind him again. Reid made a face, thinking hard to answer the question without lying. He stumbled again and tripped, falling forward and bumping into Tony, nearly knocking him over. "Ouch!" he cried. "Watch where you're going, will ya?"

"Sorry," Reid apologized awkwardly, straightening himself up and wincing. "I'm still having trouble navigating rough terrain since I was shot."

Tony smirked, rolling his eyes and pushing his baseball cap up out of his eyes. "God, you sound like a freakin' Encyclopedia - Wait… You were shot?"

Reid sigh, choosing to once again ignore Tony's sarcasm. "Yeah. I was shot in the knee while protecting a man from an unsub a few months ago..."

Tony looked surprised. Reid just didn't strike him as the kind of kid to get shot in field protecting someone… unless he'd fumbled or something. "Huh… Was it your first case in the field or something?"

"No." Reid frowned, catching himself before he almost tripped again. "I've been with the BAU since I was 21."

Tony stopped walking and turned around, staring at him with a confused look on his face. "Well… how old are you now? Like, 24?"

"No, I just turned 30 in March, actually." Reid said, trying not to get too offended by the Tony's surprise. A lot of people assumed he was younger and inexperienced in the field.

Tony tried not to look surprised, but it wasn't all that easy. "…I could've sworn you were a Probie." he murmured, turning and continuing down the trail.

"A what?" Reid frowned, stumbling to catch up with the faster agent.

"Thought you were a genius…" Tony muttered. "A Probie, you know? A Probationary Agent? Doesn't the FBI use that term? Or is there no trial period for agents in the field, 'cause that would explain a lot…"

"No, we have a Probationary period for every field agent, I've just never heard that term before."

"Well, you learn something new every day, don't you doctor?" Tony remarked, breathing a sigh of relief when they finally reached the end of the trail and came to the clearing where the third body of the day was supposed to be.

"Actually, that's true." Reid nodded, following behind the NCIS agent. "Did you know that expression originated in -"

Tony suddenly held up his hand and hissed, "SHH."

Reid frowned, glancing at the other man, confused. Before he could ask what was wrong, Tony put his finger to his lips and whispered "Do you hear that?"

Reid paused and looked around the clearing. If he concentrated hard enough, he could just hear the faint hum of music coming from somewhere near the edge of the tree line. "…music?" he frowned.

Tony's hand slowly went to his gun and Reid did the same, both slowly approaching the noise, Reid glancing around behind them in case someone came out of the trees. "Agent Reid, do you notice something… missing from the crime scene?" Tony asked as they got closer to the trees.

Reid's eyes swept the clearing and he breathed, "A body…"

Tony nodded, kneeling down when they reached the other end of the clearing. "Any idea why someone would report a body that's not here?"

Reid swallowed, feeling dread creeping into his stomach. "An ambush…" He whispered hoarsely.

Tony pushed branches away, hearing the music louder now. "I was really hoping for a different answer, Doc." he muttered. His hand brushed something cold and he froze, pushing away more twigs until he saw a pale hand. Further inspection revealed that it was attached to a body.

Sighing in relief, Tony looked up at the other agent. "Got a body here," he informed him, standing from his crouch and moving the larger branches out of his way so that they could take photos and process the scene before calling Ducky.

Reid holstered his gun, but still looked confused. "Then where is the music coming from?" he wondered.

"Dunno, maybe -" He stopped, eyes falling on a blinking device taped to the body, a radio playing soft music was sitting on top of it. "Bomb." Tony said, backing away.

"What?" Reid looked confused, turning to look at the body. Tony didn't give him the chance, grabbing his arm and pulling him away, sprinting into a run, yelling, "There's a bomb!"

Reid's eyes widened and he started running behind Tony, but he stumbled and fell just a few feet from the mouth of the trail. Tony turned and slid into a half crouch, yanking the other man back to his feet and dragging him back toward the trail.

Only a few seconds later the earth shook beneath them with the force of the blast, setting the trees ablaze and sending the two agents crashing to the ground. Before his vision completely blacked out, Tony could just make out a pair of muddy combat boots… This was not how he'd expected his day to end…

* * *

_E/N: … Ok, I know I left you guys hanging there, I'm sorry. Don't hurt me, alright. Then you'll never know the ending of the story and that would suck, right? Hopefully…_

_Don't worry, you'll find out in chapter nine, alright? I might even tell you guys who the unsub is… Wouldn't that be nice?_

_DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW!_


	9. Chapter 9

_A/N: Thanks so much for all of the reviews guys! I'm glad you enjoyed it! XD I know I hate it when authors end on an evil cliffhanger, but I'm also a hypocrite, so… yeah._

_WARNING: This story may not be suitable for children under the age of 13 due to graphic violence, mild language, blood and possible gruesome crime scenes. Parents strongly cautioned. Ha! I'm FINALLY getting to the good stuff… XD_

_PLEASE REVIEW!_

* * *

**UNKNOWN LOCATION 7:40 P.M. EST**

The first thing Tony became aware of was the soft _drip-drip _of water hitting a metal surface. Then the recent events caught up with his body and he winced in pain, his head aching and his ears ringing. When he cracked his eyes to take in his surroundings, he had to hold off bile as the world around him spun and he forced himself up, wincing at the strain the movement put on his almost definitely bruised ribs.

Looking around the dank cell - because there really was no other way to describe the space - Tony was grateful that the light was dim. He was sitting on a damp, concrete floor. The walls were made of cement; in some places it looked like there might be mold growing in the crevasses, though Tony wasn't exactly keen to find out. A single, flickering, fluorescent bulb hung from the ceiling, over a work table covered in rusted tools. If he squinted, he could make out the dark outline of stairs on the opposite side of the room.

He looked down and saw a grime covered chain attached to his ankle. Lying next to him was the still unconscious, but slowly waking Reid. "Damn." Tony muttered, wincing again and massaging his temples to try and ease his aching head.

He reached out and prodded the younger man gently in the shoulder. "…Kid?" he whispered, his voice hoarse. "Are you okay?" he had to scoot out of the way while Reid groaned and grimaced, sitting up slowly.

Tony gave him a minute to get situated and take in their damp surroundings. For one brief moment, fear flashed in the younger agent's eyes, but he quickly suppressed it and met Tony's gaze. "…Where are we?" Reid rasped, wincing as if just talking caused him pain.

"No idea," Tony said, looking around again. "I'd guess we're in some sort of basement, but I don't know whose."

"… This doesn't make any sense…" Reid frowned.

"I'll say." Tony agreed. "We're chained to a wall in some psycho's basement."

"No, not that." Reid shook his head. "Why is the unsub suddenly changing his MO like this? He's been raping and murdering young women and now he kidnaps two federal agents? It's a huge change in MO."

"No one said this guy was wrapped real tight." Tony pointed out, fiddling with the cuff around his ankle. He huffed and scowled, reaching around in his belt. "Damn it." He swore again.

"It's not really a matter of him being unstable." Reid said. "He's been working toward a goal since he began killing and unless I'm mistaken, this is it. But it doesn't make any sense in consideration with - What are you doing?" the profiler frowned. Tony was apparently trying to reach something in his back pocket. "…I don't think he left our guns on us."

"Not looking for a gun." Tony shook his head. "A knife."

"A knife? You carry a knife?" Reid frowned, now looking really confused.

"Yeah. Rule number nine." Tony sad, still trying to find the weapon.

"Huh?" Reid raised a brow, watching the other agent struggling.

"Gibbs has a list of rules. Rule nine is to always carry a knife." Tony explained, grunting as he fumbled around.

"… That's a good rule." Reid nodded slowly. "So do you have the knife?"

Tony grunted again and collapsed. "No." he scowled again. "He must've taken it." He pulled at the cuff again, "And this is too tight…" he trailed off, muttering under his breath.

Reid frowned, pursing his lips. "How long do you think we were unconscious?" he asked.

"Not a clue. You woke up right after I did though."

Reid looked thoughtful. "My head doesn't hurt like it would if I had a major concussion…" he said finally. "So it couldn't have been too long. Unless…" he paled suddenly.

"Unless what?" Tony asked, watching the younger man push up the sleeves of his button up shirt.

"Unless he drugged us while we were unconscious to keep up from waking too soon." Reid responded with a small amount of panic. On the inside of his left arm he found a small needle mark that was slightly bruised. He swallowed and watched as Tony checked the inside of his arm and found a similar marking.

"Alright, so he drugged us to keep us out." Tony said. "What does that mean?" he looked to Reid, who seemed to be having a small panic attack. "Doc? You alright?"

Reid licked his lips. "Huh? Yeah… um… if - if he drugged us…. He probably transported us a good distance. Of course, it really depends on the drug that he used and how long it kept us unconscious."

Tony frowned, "And he took our weapons and our cell phones." He sighed, clearly unhappy.

"The fact that he had the bomb there, and was already waiting for us… He had this thing planned. He was probably the anonymous caller who reported the body…"

Tony frowned, "So the whole time he was just setting this so he could kidnap a few of us? Now I see what you mean about this not making any sense. What does that accomplish for him?"

Reid hesitated and then said three words that Tony had honestly never expected to hear coming out of the younger man's mouth. "I don't know."

He looked thoughtful for a moment, concentration wrinkling his brow, but before he could speak again they heard heavy footfalls from somewhere above them. _Thud-thud._ The feet dragged against the floor like whoever was walking wasn't quite picking his feet up all the way and they could hear the sounds of his heels scraping against wood.

"Looks like we're about to find out." Tony said, staring toward the stairs in the dark corner of the room. He glanced back toward Reid, expecting to see him nearing a breakdown, and was surprised to see instead a look of sheer will and determination that carefully masked the underlying fear in his eyes.

The sound of metal against metal announced a lock clicking out of place at the top of the stairs and then they heard the feet making their way down the creaking stairs. The darkened silhouette of a man stood in the door frame for a moment, his face masked in the shadows.

From what they could see, he was a tall, well built man with tanned and weathered skin. He had large hands that were calloused from working with wood and tools for a long period of time. He was dressed in old, worn clothes – a faded button down shirt that was missing a few buttons at the top and a pair of worn denim jeans with holes in the knees with a muddy pair of worn combat boots that Tony recognized instantly as the ones he'd seen before he was knocked out.

There were oil and grease stains on his jeans and as he slowly stepped into the light they got their first really good look at him. He had long, tangled black hair that was yanked back behind his head in a crude ponytail. His features were strong and well defined. His eyes were a dark, deep almost bottomless brown. A smile played on the corners of his lips and when he spoke they were both even more confused. His words were clear and concise, elegantly rolling off his tongue in a gentle, flowing Spanish accent that clashed almost violently with his gruff appearance.

"Supervisory Special Agent Doctor Spencer Reid of the FBI," He smiled down at them. "Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo of NCIS…" He paused, clearly enjoying himself more than strictly necessary. "Welcome to Hell."

**NCIS NAVY YARD 7:57 P.M. EST**

"Where the hell are they?" Gibbs almost shouted, glaring at his phone. He'd called Tony at least fifteen times in the last hour and still wasn't getting an answer. It was one thing for Tony to be irresponsible – which he usually wasn't in the field – it was another thing entirely for him to blatantly ignore his calls.

"Still nothing?" Prentiss asked, looking worriedly to Hotch. "Maybe we should try Reid again…" she started to suggest.

"No." Gibbs growled. "I'm sick of sitting around. I'm going out there to see what happened and if he's not dying –" he was cut off by McGee and Abby both running from different directions toward him.

"Gibbs, I've got something." McGee said breathlessly.

"Gibbs, Gibbs, Gibbs!" Abby practically jumped up in down. "This is really important!" she pushed her way in front of McGee, who scowled.

"I think mine's more important." He argued, holding up a manila envelope in his hands.

"Not likely," Abby shook her head. "This is big. This is HUGE!"

"This just arrived for you." McGee interrupted, "A man paid some kid fifty dollars to take it here and ask specifically for Agents Hotchner and Gibbs."

Gibbs frowned, "What –"

"Gibbs!" Abby whined. "This is important!"

"_This _is important too!" McGee argued, handing the envelope to Gibbs, who took it and reluctantly allowed Hotch to look over his shoulder while he – putting gloves on – carefully opened it and shook out the contents.

It was an 8x10 photograph.

Gibbs and Hotch both closed their eyes at the same time, "Damn it." They muttered. It was a picture of the back of a truck. There were old rusted tools scattered around and a rolled up tarp. Lying next to the tarp was Tony and Reid, both apparently unconscious and handcuffed with their own cuffs.

"Is that…" JJ broke off, not wanting to believe that – again – Reid had been taken by an unsub.

"Oh my God…" Kate's eyes blazed for a moment and she looked like someone might've knocked the air out of her lungs. Once again, DiNozzo had managed to get himself into trouble… and he'd dragged Agent Reid into it with him.

Morgan looked like he couldn't quite comprehend the photograph. "This doesn't make any sense." He muttered, shaking his head. "He… he just kidnapped two federal agents… That…" he could even finish the sentence, he just couldn't believe it had happened _again _to Reid.

Rossi pressed his lips together, frowning. "…There's something on the back." He said slowly.

Gibbs flipped the picture over and scowled. In the same writing as the bloody note they'd found were the words _"You'll be sorry. They're going to pay for what you did."_

"Scan this thing for prints, Abby. _Now._"

"But –"

"Abby." Gibbs scowled, "I want those prints yesterday."

"That's what I'm trying to tell you Gibbs!" Abby insisted, scowling. "I found a print on the bloody note our psycho left us and Garcia ran a search – her computers are faster than mine and I wanted to get it as quick as I could." She took a breath, ignoring the growing frown on Gibbs's face. "I know who the killer is!"

Gibbs scowled, waited a moment then snapped. "Who, Abby?"

"Mason Fidel."

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_E/N: *grins sheepishly* Heh… um… yeah. So I might've, possibly left you guys on another cliffhanger, but I can't help it, alright! It's just so much fun XD_

_And for all you paying attention, kudos! XD There will be some major whumpage in chapter ten, it was minimal at best (absent, honestly) in this chapter, so I'm sorry! I still love you guys tho!_

_DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW!_


	10. Chapter 10

_A/N: Thanks for all of your splendiferous reviews! It's nice to know there are people out there that are just as twisted as I am XD You guys are awesome, I love you!_

_WARNING: This story may not be suitable for children under the age of 13 due to graphic violence, mild language, blood and possible gruesome crime scenes. Parents strongly cautioned. Maybe this chapter I'll finally get to the REAL torture and whumpage XD_

_PLEASE REVIEW!_

* * *

**NCIS NAVY YARD 8:00 P.M. EST**

It took the agents a long moment to react to the name. "…Mason Fidel the rapist?" Hotch asked finally, staring at the Goth lab tech with disbelief in his eyes.

Abby nodded, "That's him. He was convicted twelve years ago on three counts of rape and attempted murder. He was just paroled a year ago… But he wasn't arrested during a joint case."

"I know." Gibbs said, his jaw tight. "I arrested him."

"I was the prosecutor…" Hotch said.

Morgan looked between the two agents, "So… That explains why we couldn't find anyone who fit the profile from the joint cases,"

"No, he's apparently looking for revenge against Hotch and me," Gibbs growled. He turned to Abby, "I want to know everything about this guy, _now. _Where he lives, where he works, who he's spending his time with… everything."

Abby turned and practically sprinted down the hall to the elevators. "You got it."

The remaining agents stood there in a tight, tense group. "We need to go check out the scene Tony and Reid were at." Prentiss said, licking her lips, trying to fight back the fear and worry that was already starting to eat away at her.

Gibbs looked back down at the photo in his hands, staring at the two unconscious agents with a frown on his face. He didn't want to admit it, but he was worried. It hadn't been easy to get Mason Fidel in custody the first time and they hadn't been able to get the murder charges to stick because they didn't have enough evidence.

"Let's go then." He said shortly, angrily tossing the picture aside and walking briskly toward the elevators, Hotch and the rest of the agents on his heels.

**QUANTICO, VIRGINIA - NATURE RESERVE 8:45 P.M. EST**

"The truck's still here," Gibbs frowned when they got out of their vehicles and spotted the NCIS truck sitting near the mouth of the narrow hiking trail.

"The body was reported in a clearing down that trail," Hotch pointed out, hitting the button on his flashlight. The others followed his example.

"I see footprints," Kate said, shining her light on the loose dirt and sparse grass. "It looks like they at least started hiking out toward the body."

Gibbs scowled and snatched a large, industrial spot light from the truck, flipping it on and leading the way down the narrow, rocky dirt path. They reached the end of it and a small clearing and McGee nearly dropped his flashlight.

The trees had clearly been scorched from a fire, though it didn't appear to have burned for very long and it wasn't a very large fire. The earth had been shaken loose in several places and there were patches of blood near the mouth of the trail that they guessed was Tony and Reid's.

"McGee, take samples of that for Abby." Gibbs ordered, making his way to the opposite side of the clearing, where the most damage appeared to have been done, with Hotch beside him.

The two men knelt and found a charred body and fragments of melted and shattered plastic and duct tape. "…This was an ambush." Hotch muttered, shaking his head.

"Yeah, to take our agents." Gibbs snapped on a pair of gloves and took photos of the body and its surroundings before carefully lifting up some of the bits of plastic. "Looks like the bastard used a bomb…"

Hotch watched the other man's face for a moment and nodded, "A crude one…" he agreed.

"Crude but effective." Gibbs pointed out. He stood up, pulling his phone out to call Ducky and let him know that they did have a body for him. "McGee, Kate sweep this scene. _Now._"

Hotch stood from his crouch and walked over to Morgan and Rossi, who were standing back at the mouth of the trail looking around at the clearing with a look of surprise and worry on their faces.

"He set this whole thing up," Morgan said, frowning. "Just so that he could take a member of your team and Agent Gibbs's team?" he asked.

Hotch nodded, "Ideally, he probably wanted Gibbs and myself… But he couldn't get that. He called in the new body knowing that we were already stretched thin at two other crime scenes. He knew we wouldn't have a lot of agents to send and that we'd more than likely send someone from both teams since this is now a joint case…"

"What do you think he's going to do to them?" Rossi asked after a moment, still staring around the clearing.

"…I don't know." Hotch said, sounding worried for a moment. "But if I remember Mason Fidel correctly, it won't be anything good."

**~/.\~**

"I can't believe this is happening…" Kate muttered, kneeling down in the dirt to bag some fibers she'd spotted in the grass.

JJ shook her head, glancing to Prentiss, "What I can't believe is that it's happening to Reid again." Her wide blue eyes were full of shock and worry, almost like they had been during the entire ordeal with Hankel, minus most of the guilt she'd wrongfully placed on herself.

Kate glanced up at the two other women, "It's happened before?" she asked, "I thought it was just Tony."

Prentiss frowned, "What do you mean?"

"Tony… has a habit of getting himself in trouble. Bad trouble. I guess… the good thing is that he's always made it out alright."

Prentiss felt a smile twitch her lips, glancing at JJ. "So does Reid." She said, shaking her head, worry returning to her voice. "He's already been kidnapped before and it…"

"It didn't go well." JJ interjected grimly.

Prentiss nodded, her eyes darker than usual. "But it will this time." She said sternly. "We're going to find them."

Kate nodded too, trying to hide the worry in her own eyes. "Of course we are." She agreed. "And when we do I'm gonna kick DiNozzo's ass for making us worry like this over him."

**UNKNOWN LOCATION 7:53 P.M. EST**

For several long seconds that lasted for an eternity to the two young agents, the only sound in the basement was the sound of Mason's harsh breathing and their own shaky breaths. Then Tony spoke, "Who are you?" he asked, frowning up at their captor.

"My name is Mason Fidel," the man answered, that eerie glint making his eyes glitter creepily even in the dim, flickering light. His accent was still somehow disconcerting when applied to his physical appearance.

"Who?" Tony raised a brow, frowning. He glanced toward Reid, who was studying the man with an intense look of concentration on his face. "I know that name…"

"He's a rapist," Reid answered. "Agent Gibbs arrested him and Hotch was the prosecutor, remember?" he turned to look at Tony then. "They told us that when we first met this morning. I look up the case… He raped three women, one of them he tried to strangle, Elizabeth Daniels, and he killed two others."

"I wasn't convicted of murder, Agent Reid." Mason interrupted him, a faint smile flicking on his face.

"That doesn't mean you didn't do it." Reid said, staring the man down with an intensity that Tony hadn't expected.

"So… wait." Tony frowned. "All of this is to get back at Gibbs and Agent Hotchner?" he shook his head. "You killed all of those girls just so you could –"

"So that I could make them pay for what they did to me."

"But, you raped and murdered innocent women. _They _were making sure that you paid for what you did." Reid argued. His head was suddenly whipped to the side when Mason unexpectedly lashed out and backhanded him viciously.

"HEY!" Tony reacted a second too late and glared up at the man. Reid looked dazed for a moment, pressing a hand to the small trickle of blood coming from his newly busted lip. "Leave the kid alone, he's just being honest."

Mason's dark eyes were blazing with a fiery light and he swung again, this time hitting Tony, who threw his arm out to stop the blow as he saw it coming, but his movements were still sluggish from the drugs and the disorientation of the bomb. He blinked and shook his aching head, trying to clear the fuzziness from his vision.

Mason started cursing in a long string of Spanish and English then and the two agents glanced at each other, worried. They understood how he had managed to kill two women from looking at the fury in his eyes. What they couldn't understand was how he had managed to get away with it.

"Is he crazy?" Tony whispered, glancing toward Reid with raised brows.

Reid didn't answer, just staring at the man while he calmed himself down and smoothed back his tangled hair. It didn't do much good considering it was still yanked back in a nappy ponytail, but he didn't seem to care. He approached them again and leaned down, yanking Reid around by the throat and squeezing painfully.

Reid immediately started fighting and kicking to get the man off of him and Tony tried to help but Mason was quick to produce a knife and both men stilled instantly at the sight of it. "Stay where you are, Agent DiNozzo, or I'll slit his throat."

Tony swallowed and looked the man in the eyes, "Take me instead," he insisted. "Leave the kid here."

Mason chuckled, "Don't worry, I'll get to you." He promised. "But not right now." He leaned down, holding the knife carefully in his hand, and fiddled with the cuff around Reid's ankle until it came undone and Reid sucked in a breath at finally being free. Though he was certain he wasn't going to like what came next.

"Besides," Mason continued, yanking Reid up to his feet. He had to support him mostly because Reid's knees were still rubbery and his injured knee was swollen and likely bruised from all the torment it had already been put through. "This 'kid', as you put it, isn't really much younger than you are. He can take care of himself." He laughed again at the look of near hatred on Tony's face and dragged Reid away, toward the stairs.

As soon as they reached the first step, Reid started struggling again despite the knife to his throat. Tony started yelling, trying his hardest to provoke the man again so that he'd let go of Reid, but Mason seemed more controlled now, calmer. He dragged Reid up the dark, narrow staircase and into the house beyond, bloodlust and vengeance making his adrenaline pump faster, glee lighting his dark eyes.

* * *

_E/N: Hmm… Either I'm going to Hell for this, or … Well, I'm going to Hell._

_So… you guys might hate me (again) for leaving you hanging like that (for like the fourth time) but I HAD to. It couldn't be helped, alright? I'm an evil person and I like tormenting people XD_

_DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW!_


	11. Chapter 11

_A/N: Thanks so much for all of the reviews guys! It warms my heart to know there are people just as twisted as I am out there reading this…_

_To answer a question some of you brought up… No, there will not be any rape (except the mentions of it from when Mason raped those other women) I sort of toyed w/the idea, but it's not gonna happen in this story guys. Mason rapes women, not men and he's very picky about what they look like… But he's also a sadist so… there is torture… I'm just not good enough to be nice to Reid and Tony XD_

_WARNING: This story may not be suitable for children under the age of 13 due to graphic violence, mild language, blood and possible gruesome crime scenes. Parents strongly cautioned. And THIS time I'm pretty sure there will be actual torture… XD (it's not weird that it makes me smile, I swear!)_

_PLEASE REVIEW!_

* * *

**NCIS NAVY YARD - MORGUE 9:53 P.M. EST**

The charred body lay next to the other two victims of the day. Both of other victims had been identified as Francine Reynolds and Willow Daryl. Ducky was whispering over the two other them – whose autopsies were almost completed – when Gibbs and Hotch walked through the Morgue doors wearing grim expressions on their faces.

Ducky looked up, "Anything new, Jethro?" he asked.

"That's what we're hoping you can tell us, Duck." Gibbs said, walking over to the bodies. "What happened to them?"

Duck sighed, nodding slowly, "Each of our earlier victims, Miss Reynolds and Miss Daryl, were beaten and raped brutally. Cause of death was, as I suspected, strangulation. The Hyoid bone in each of their throats has been snapped nearly in half. Unfortunately, they were also frozen shortly after death and then taken out later, to be stabbed. I can't give a time of death, I'm afraid."

"He wouldn't have kept them alive more than 24 hours," Hotch said, "So they were most likely killed the day of, or the day after their disappearances."

"When were they reported missing?" Gibbs asked, frowning.

"Francine Reynolds went missing three weeks ago and Willow Daryl went missing a month ago." Hotch answered.

"Which leaves us with our mystery guest," Ducky said, moving over to the charred body. "It's difficult to say if she had been frozen or not, due to the damage from the blast… But she was most definitely raped and strangled and I haven't found any evidence that suggests she was stabbed at all."

"Her body was hidden behind trees… So when Tony and Reid first entered the clearing they wouldn't have seen her." Hotch said, frowning.

"So he didn't need to stab her, because by the time they found her body, they were too close to the bomb for it to make any difference if they noticed she was stabbed or not." Gibbs scowled. "This bastard's playing us."

"And he's winning," Hotch muttered in angry agreement.

"Not for long." Gibbs said, a harsh light in his eyes. He practically stormed out of the morgue ordering, "Let me know when she's ID'd."

**NCIS NAVY YARD – FORENSICS LAB 9:58 P.M. EST**

Abby frowned over the bomb fragments, picking up each piece with gloved fingers. "There wasn't a lot of bang to this bomb." She said. "It was a small charge and it was pretty simply designed."

"He had one purpose in mind when he made it," Morgan said, standing next to McGee behind the Goth tech. "He didn't need anything more powerful."

"So this guy wouldn't be an explosives expert." McGee said, frowning.

"Not likely," Abby shook her head. "This is something like what I made when I was, like, fifteen."

Morgan raised a brow, "You made a bomb when you were fifteen?"

"Shh." Abby smiled, "Don't tell anyone. I swear I'm not a terrorist."

The plasma screen suddenly lit up with Garcia's distressed face. "Please tell me you have something more than this skeevy jerk's name." she said. There were angry, worried tears in her eyes and her mascara had ran and smeared slightly down her face.

"Why? What happened?"

"I can't find anything." Garcia said. "Since he was paroled, he's been totally off the grid. There's no apartment, no house, no car… I… there is absolutely nothing in his name. All I can tell you is that the truck he's driving and the van are both Fords and they're registered in his deceased father's name."

"What about credit cards?" Abby frowned, turning her attention back to the computer she'd been doing the search on before Morgan and McGee had delivered the bomb fragments.

"Nothing." Garcia shook her head. "He… he's like a ghost."

"That's never good…" Abby frowned, hitting a few more keys. "He's got to live somewhere, right? I mean, those last bodies were frozen…"

"Exactly, he's got to have some place to keep Reid and Agent DiNozzo… but there's literally _nothing._"

Morgan frowned, "Try looking into any family he may have had, Baby Girl. Maybe you'll find something there."

"I'll look…" Garcia said, sounding unsure, "But you need to get back to looking for my baby, because if you don't find him soon… I'll have to find this sicko myself and believe me; he won't like Penelope Garcia when she's angry."

**UNKNOWN LOCATION 8:09 P.M. EST**

Mason dragged Reid through a small, cramped living room and up another narrow and equally rickety flight of stairs to a small bedroom on the second floor. The room was completely empty except for a small metal hook in the center of the floor and a chain. In the far corners there was a table with a tool box and pair of handcuffs.

He yanked Reid roughly toward the hook in the floor and snatched the handcuffs – which Reid realized were either his or Tony's – and tightened them around Reid's wrists. Then he attached the link between the cuffs to the chain in the hook in the floor, forcing the younger man onto his knees painfully.

Reid grimaced at the pressure it put on his aching knee and tried to fight back a groan. It wasn't lost on Mason, however. "What's wrong with you?" he demanded. "I haven't even hurt you yet."

That yet hanging at the end of the sentence just made everything even worse for Reid, but he winced and looked up at his captor. "I… I was shot in the knee a few months ago…" he said slowly, wincing when he shifted and it scraped his knee against the rough wooden floor.

Mason raised a brow, a slow smile finding its way onto his face. "Really?" he asked, "Which knee?"

Reid bit his lip and glared at the man, refusing to answer the question.

Mason scowled, "Fine, don't answer the question." He said, his voice angry and harsh. He turned around and walked over to the table where the tool box was sitting and pulled out a small camcorder. Flipping it open, he turned it on and hit record, pointing it toward Reid, who stared at it in terror.

"I'll just have to find out myself." He said, approaching the young man again, this time shoving him backwards, bending his injured knee into an even more painful position until Mason yanked both of his legs out from under him and forcing him on his back. The metal cuffs and the hook bit painfully into his back.

He felt Mason shoving the legs of his pants up to his knees. His right knee was badly swollen, bruised and scarred. "This was from a gunshot?" Mason raised his brows, pushing roughly against the injury.

"AHH!" Reid shot up, grimacing in pain. "Y-Yes." He managed to force out from between clenched teeth. Mason smiled again and stood, moving back over to the table and picking up a hammer.

"So tell me, Agent Reid, do you think brining a hammer down onto that knee would hurt?" Mason asked, studying Reid's face as his eyes widened in panic and he tried to sit back up. It wasn't exactly easy to do with the handcuffs and the chains keeping him pinned to the floor and his knee deciding not to cooperate with him.

"P-Please…" he said, his voice shaking. "Don't"

Mason chuckled, kneeling next to Reid, putting his face right in his, "What's going to stop me, Agent? Your boss? …I think he'll find this video very… intriguing, don't you agree?" And then, without warning, Mason lifted the hammer and slammed it down onto Reid's injured knee.

Reid let out an almost inhuman scream, tears watering his eyes. He tried to move away again and kick out at Mason when he brought the hammer down a second and third time, but it was nearly impossible. All he could do was close his eyes and wait for it to be over, hoping that he would finished as soon as possible.

**~/.\~**

Downstairs in the basement, Tony was tugging fruitlessly on the chain at his ankle, trying to find some means of escape. The only way out of the room was the stairs, and he couldn't reach the stairs. So he fought with the cuff, pulling at it until his palms, chaffed already, began to bleed. There had to be some way to get it off.

He only paused when heard Reid scream and winced, shutting his eyes. What the hell was he doing to him? He scowled again and returned to yanking on the cuff with vigor, trying desperately to break it or at least weaken it.

He gave up eventually, letting the heavy chain clank back to the ground, and looked around for something else to help him. There were tools lying on the work table across the room… but none anywhere else and the chain didn't reach that far. "Damn it." He muttered, falling back against the wall. He wasn't ready to admit defeat, but until he had some better options, all he could do was listen to Reid's screams and hope they would end soon…

* * *

_E/N: See there, that wasn't really a cliffhanger, was it? You guys should thank me, it was very tempting to cut you off again XD But I decided to be nice._

_DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW!_


	12. Chapter 12

_A/N: I seriously love you guys, you know that? And all of your angry threats and pleas. XD You're awesome. Thank you all so much for reviewing!_

_I'm going to apologize ahead of time for the lack of the rest of the team in this chapter guys, I just wanted to focus on Tony and Reid right now… They'll be back the next chapter. Besides, if you haven't noticed the times, the teams are actually about an hour ahead of Reid and Tony so… you're not missing anything really_

_WARNING: This story may not be suitable for children under the age of 13 due to graphic violence, mild language, blood and possible gruesome crime scenes. Parents strongly cautioned. … I feel like that warning isn't clear enough after the response I got from some ppl for last chapter… CX makes me happy…_

_PLEASE REVIEW!_

* * *

**UNKNOWN LOCATION 8:47 P.M. EST**

Reid groaned in pain, his eyes clinched shut when Mason finally put the hammer down and casually walked over to the camera, turning it off. Reid pushed himself up onto his elbows and cracked his eyes slowly, anxiously taking in the damage that had been done to his already wounded knee.

It was bloody and swollen and bruised and had obviously been shattered. He worried briefly if he'd ever be able to walk again… and then he wondered if he would ever get the chance to find out. He could die in this house. He swallowed hard and looked away from the horrible sight, forcing himself to think about something else.

Mason walked slowly back over to where Reid was lying and leaned down to his level again, "Don't worry. You won't be in pain for too long, I'm going to kill you and Agent DiNozzo tomorrow night… By then they'll know who I am and where I am…"

Reid swallowed hard, pale from fear and pain. He licked his lips and tried to talk to the man, "You know, you don't have to do this." He said slowly. "You could just let us go and escape. …We could help you -"

Mason snorted, shaking his head and reaching down to undo the locks and chains around the young man's wrists. "You really think I would trust a federal agent?" he asked, his accent flowing so beautifully off of his tongue it was almost irritating. He laughed, a dark, humorless laugh and pulled Reid up by his elbows.

"AH!" Reid screamed again when the movement not only jarred his knee, but put pressure against it and white-hot pain shot through his entire body in a flash, nearly blinding him.

Mason sighed and supported most of Reid's weight himself, half-dragging him back toward the basement and the stairs. The steps were like a second torture for the injured FBI agent as Mason forced him down them none too gently, pay no mind to his pained grunts and gasps. "You'll get used to it." He said, sounding half annoyed as he pushed Reid through the door and once again shoved him down to the floor - this time by the chain that had been around his ankle.

Before locking the cuff, Mason yanked down Reid's pant leg again and then turned to face Tony, who was watching in silent apprehension. Mason had expected screams and curses to come from the other agent, but he seemed to be too concerned about the other man to put much energy into antagonizing him. Of course, it was all the same to Mason. These two were just pawns in his little game against Agents Hotchner and Gibbs… They would be dead by midnight tomorrow. Not that they weren't going to suffer, because he was going to make sure that they suffered the most immense pain he could force on them.

"What the hell did you do to him?" Tony demanded finally, glaring up at Mason with a death glare that for a moment actually almost scared the man.

"…I'm fine…" Reid managed to force out from between his clenched teeth. He was absently rubbing at his bruised and bleeding wrists, which had taken their own beating while he struggled to get out of the cuffs. Agent DiNozzo, Mason realized, had similar wounds on his hands from trying to break the chain around his ankle.

"No you're not." Tony said, his jaw a harsh line of anger. "What did you do to him?" he repeated, still glaring up at Mason.

Mason just smiled and chuckled, "Nothing too terrible yet." He assured Tony. "It's your turn next…" he glanced at his watch. "But I've got to get that tape to your bosses first. Then I'll be back for you."

"Tape?" Tony frowned, leaning forward and tugging at his chain as Mason left. "What tape!" he yelled after their captor. "What are you talking about?" He fell back against the wall when he heard the door to the basement slam shut and looked at Reid with concern. "Are you alright?"

Reid winced, shifting so that he was facing Tony. "Surprisingly, I've been worse." He told the other man. "And the tape… he recorded it."

"He… wait, he's going to send them a tape of…" Tony's eyes widened. "He's insane."

Reid frowned, shifting slightly again, trying in vain to remove some pressure from his aching, throbbing knee. "Well… he's not really insane in the classic definition of the word." He said. "He's actually what would be classified as a psychopath and a sexual sadist." Reid explained.

"He gets pleasure from other peoples' suffering, and he's also completely remorseless and is willing to kill anyone that stands in the way of what he wants."

Tony licked his lips, frowning. "…So he's insane." He said, "Got it."

Reid scrunched his brows but decided not to correct Tony again. They had more important things to worry about anyway, like finding some way out of the nightmare that they were in.

"When you say pleasure…" Tony frowned after a minute, looking thoughtful. "You mean… he… gets off on hurting people?"

Reid nodded, "Exactly. In fact, it's probably the only way he can 'get off'. That's why he rapes women, he can't be with a woman who's willing and feel any real pleasure."

Tony made a face, "That's disgusting…" he paused. "He wouldn't like… try to rape us would he?"

"Highly unlikely." Reid sad, shaking his head. "Mason's more an anger excitation rapist, because he get's pleasure at the pain of the woman he's raping. Generally speaking, most male rapes are the result of a power reassurance rapist. Male rape isn't often about sexual orientation, it's about power and dominance."

"Ok… everything you just said… all equally disturbing thoughts." Tony said slowly. "But… I guess it's one less thing to worry about while we're stuck down here."

Reid swallowed, grimacing again and trying to hide it. "We aren't going to be down here much longer if Mason sticks to his plan."

"Why?" Tony frowned, looking worried suddenly.

"He told me he plans on killing us tomorrow night…"

Tony swore under his breath. "We've got to get out of here."

"How?" Reid asked, tugging at the end of his chain that was in the wall. "We can't get these chains off and the tools are all the way across the room on the table."

"We've got to try something…" Tony frowned, thinking. They sat there in silence for several minutes before Reid spoke up.

"He said that he's going to take you when he gets back."

"Right," Tony nodded.

"Ok, listen… there's two flights of stairs." Reid said slowly. "One leading out of the basement and then he took me up another flight to a room where all of his tools are. As soon as you get through the door to the basement, there's a hall on the right. Try to fight him off and run, the front door has to be in that direction somewhere."

"No way."

"Tony…"

"I'm not leaving you here to die, Doc. It's not going to happen. We've got a better chance together."

"No we don't." Reid argued. "I can't walk on my own, I'd only slow us down if we did somehow managed to escape."

Tony locked eyes with the younger man and shook his head, "Never leave your partner behind." He said seriously.

Reid pressed his lips together, "Is that another one of Agent Gibbs's rules?"

"It's one of my rules. And I'm not breaking it. We're getting out of here together or not at all. I can carry you if I have to, but I'm getting us both out of here so think of another plan."

Reid sighed, casting his eyes against the room, trying to ignore the throbbing in his knee that was still on fire. He instinctively reached out to massage the aching knee, but pulled his hand back before he could, knowing that it would only cause more pain than relief.

"If we could get to the tools somehow…" Reid said, frowning. "We might be able to break the chains and escape. And fight back if we needed too."

Tony studied the table for a moment, nodding. "You're right…" Suddenly an idea occurred to him. "When Mason comes and take me upstairs, I can try and knock something off the table, toward you… You could grab it and use that to work on your chain."

"But Mason would notice you knocking a tool off the table." Reid pointed out.

"Maybe." Tony said. "But not if we're both making enough noise and he get's angry like he did earlier."

Reid slowly nodded, "It could work…" he slowly agreed.

**QUANTICO, VIRGINIA - OUTSIDE OF NCIS HEADQUARTERS 9:48 P.M. EST**

Mason pushed the hood of his jacket up higher and quickly strolled toward the official looking building with purpose, glancing at his watch. Nearly an hour of driving, but it was worth it. He slipped carefully past the security guard at the gate, holding a stiff package, containing the video he'd made, tightly underneath his hoodie.

He stood outside of the hall until he saw the receptionist hurry toward the bathrooms. Then he walked briskly towards her desk and sat the package down, glancing up at the security cameras he knew were there and smiling as he made his way out the way he'd come in.

He was certain they were already sending someone out to find him, but he was faster than they were. They hadn't even realized he was there until it was too late and he was on his way back to Agents DiNozzo and Reid. He was going to make sure that they thought they had him caught and then slip right between their fingers…

He turned on the car radio and flipped the hood back off of his face, rolling the windows down and just driving with a twisted smile on his face.

* * *

_E/N: See there, another "non-cliffhanger" thank you very much XD It's hard work to not be evil and cut you guys off like I really want to, lol._

_Hope you enjoyed? the chapter… let me know!_

_DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW!_


	13. Chapter 13

_A/N: Thanks so much for all of your reviews guys! Some of you ppl are even worse than I am XD Makes me happy…_

_WARNING: This story may not be suitable for children under the age of 13 due to graphic violence, mild language, blood and possible gruesome crime scenes. Parents strongly cautioned. Maybe we'll get to some Tony whumpage in this chapter… no promises, but I'm trying… _

_PLEASE REVIEW!_

* * *

**NCIS NAVY YARD 10:03 P.M. EST**

Gibbs and Hotch stepped off the elevator, making their way over to JJ, Prentiss, Rossi and Kate, who were all standing around Kate's desk, staring a computer screen and talking quietly. "What's going on?" Hotch asked, frowning.

"Agent Todd was doing some digging into Mason's financial history… There isn't much of one, which Morgan just said Garcia confirms. He's got to be using straight cash, Hotch. We don't have a paper trail to follow."

"Last known address?" Gibbs frowned.

"From before he was in prison." JJ answered, shaking her head. "It's owned by the Douglas family now. Garcia and Abby are both coming up blank. Morgan suggested looking into family members, so they're doing that now. But right now, we don't have anything."

"What about our Jane Doe?" Gibbs asked.

"Three possible missing Petty Officers with the same general description." Kate said. "Jillian Tills, Raina Hanson, and Diana Locklear. Dental records are on their way to Ducky now."

Hotch sighed, "So we still don't have an ID on her…"

"It's not like it would help us find Fidel any sooner." Kate pointed out. "We just need to be able to notify her family."

"I'm not too sure about that." Hotch said, shaking his head.

"Why not?" Gibbs frowned, turning to face the other man.

"If she wasn't of some importance to him, why would he make it so difficult to ID her body?" he asked, raising a brow.

"Well… true, but the dental records should be here in the morning." Kate said. "He's not delaying us that much."

"…But it could be just enough." Gibbs said, catching on to what Hotch was saying.

"You mean, he's got a schedule…." Prentiss said, blinking in surprise.

"Who has a schedule?" Morgan asked as he and McGee arrived, walking up behind them.

"Fidel," Rossi answered.

"Anything new?" Hotch asked.

Morgan and McGee both shook their heads sadly. "Nothing." McGee answered. "They can't find an address on him at all."

"They're looking into family members, but so far, they haven't found anything."

"Agent Gibbs?" A young agent ran up to them, holding a package carefully in his hands. "Agent Hotchner?"

The two men stepped forward and Hotch took the package. "What is it?"

"I don't know, sir." The young agent told him. "It was left on the reception desk. We scanned it, there isn't a bomb inside or any weapons, it looks like it might be a DVD or something…"

"A DVD?" Gibbs frowned. "That's like a CD, isn't it?"

"Yeah," Morgan nodded, "Hotch, you don't think this guy would -"

"I'm not ruling anything out." Hotch said. "We need to get this to your lab." He said, turning to face Gibbs.

**NCIS NAVY YARD - FORENSICS LAB 10:11 P.M. EST**

Abby carefully slit the tape off of the package and pulled out what was indeed a DVD in a small plastic case. She glanced up at the plasma screen where Garcia was watching anxiously and walked over to an open laptop, hitting a few keys and transferring the other tech's image to the smaller screen so that she could have the plasma for the video.

"It looks like it's been wiped clean of prints." Abby said, studying the disc carefully before she popped it out of the case and inserted it into the computer.

"Doesn't matter." Gibbs said. "We still know who it's from."

Abby nodded and pressed play. For a moment the screen was black and everything was silent. Then the image appeared, a desperate and terrified looking Reid chained to the floor of an otherwise empty room. They could hear movement from somewhere out of their line of sight and a man's voice speaking. _"I'll just have to find out myself." _

Reid sat there, staring at the other man with a mixture of fear and anger. They could hear Fidel moving around and slowly he walked into the frame, holding a hammer. He shoved Reid back violently and yanked his legs out from underneath him, pushing the pant legs up until he found Reid's injured knee.

"Oh my God…" Garcia's voice cracked from the laptop behind them as she watched the video in terror. JJ and Abby both looked slightly sick. Morgan stared at it, one memory flashing in his mind over and over again. Tobias Hankel beating Reid… Kate and Prentiss had similar looks of hatred on their faces, and sick terror for the younger man. Rossi was gripping the back of a table tightly, trying very hard to keep his face controlled and not doing a good job. Hotch and Gibbs both stared at the video with the same look of grim determination and hatred. McGee covered his mouth, like he was about to puke and watched in horror as the video continued.

_"So tell me, Agent Reid, do you think brining a hammer down onto that knee would hurt?" _Mason asked, grinning wider at the look of fear and tears of pain in the younger man's eyes.

Garcia choked back a sob, "I can't watch this." She announced, the laptop screen going dark as she got away from the horror in front of her. Reid's screams would be imprinted on their memories for years. The video lasted nearly forty minutes and by the end of it Reid wasn't even screaming any more. He was fighting back tears and broken sobs.

"We've got to find them." Hotch said, shaking his head.

Gibbs nodded as the screen went totally dark again at the end of the video. "Abby, get Garcia back to help you. Find every single relative this guy has living in Virginia. I want names and addresses ASAP."

"Try West Virginia too," Rossi added quickly. "He dumped a body there."

Abby nodded, looking close to tears, and set her jaw tightly, turning back to her computer and taking the disc out, almost violently putting it back in its case and getting Garcia back on the plasma.

**UNKNOWN LOCATION 10:33 P.M. EST**

Reid shivered slightly, wrapping his arms around his torso. "It's freezing down here…" he said, his teeth almost chattering from the cold air in the room.

Tony watched him for a moment, "I know…" he agreed. He swallowed and glanced around the basement for what must have been the millionth time, sighing. "How long has he been gone?"

Reid shrugged, "I don't know." He said slowly. "A couple of hours at least." He frowned, wincing again as pain flared up his knee.

"You know, you're a lot calmer than I expected you to be." Tony said slowly. He didn't want to offend Reid, but the first thing he'd thought of after realizing that they had been kidnapped was that the younger man wouldn't be able to handle the situation well.

Reid licked his lips, "I was trained to handle these kind of situations just like every other agent." He pointed out. "And…" he trailed off.

"And what?" Tony asked, frowning curiously at him.

"And I've been kidnapped before." Reid told him, looking down at his hands when he said it. "It was years ago… but… I guess I just learned how to handle these kind of situations early in my career."

"You too, huh?" Tony frowned.

"What do you mean?" Reid frowned.

"I was kidnapped a little while ago," Tony told him. "Of course, nothing really bad happened… It wasn't the most pleasant experience,"

"But it wasn't like this," Reid nodded understanding. "Tobias wasn't like this either. He… he was mentally unstable, but he didn't actually want to hurt anyone. His father, Charles, did."

"He kidnapped you with his dad?" Tony raised a brow, confused.

"No…" Reid shook his head, frowning. "Tobias has Dissociative Identity Disorder. His father was one of his personalities."

Tony blinked, surprised. "…And I thought this guy was unhinged." He muttered, shaking his head. They were silent for a few minutes before Tony spoke again. "But you made it out that time, and we'll get out this time."

Reid nodded, "Of course," he said, purposely avoiding glancing at his knee. Despite the fact that it was covered again with his pant leg, he could still vividly remember what it had looked like after Mason had finished beating it and he didn't like to think about what that could mean for his career in the FBI.

Tony noticed the look. "Hey, don't worry, Doc." He told him. "We're gonna get out of here and the doctors are gonna fix your knee up good as new."

Reid managed a small smile, trying to remain positive. After all, his knee had been pretty bad off before and they'd managed to repair it. Still… even if they did repair it, it would mean more physical therapy and crutches. "I hope you're right." He said quietly, glancing back at the other man an offering him a hopeful smile.

Tony smirked, "I'm always right, Doc. Don't worry." Reid laughed at that, shaking his head. Then both agents paled and looked up toward the stairs when they heard Mason's heavy foot falls coming toward the door.

"I guess he's back…" Tony whispered, glancing toward Reid.

Reid nodded, licking his lips.

"You got the plan, right?" Tony asked.

"Yeah. As soon as he uncuffs you, you'll start fighting and try to knock a tool off of the table." Reid whispered hoarsely, his eyes locked on the dark stairway.

"And you make as much noise a possible to keep him distracted." Tony nodded, "Exactly. Get ready…"

The door to the basement opened and they could hear Mason's heavy breathing along with his feet scraping against the wood. Both agents tensed visibly, waiting for their captor to return.

* * *

_E/N: Alright, so I didn't get to Tony being tortured yet… and maybe I left off on a teensy little cliffhanger, but you got to forgive me guys! I swear, there is a method to my madness, LOL XD_

_DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW!_


	14. Chapter 14

_A/N: Thanks so much for all of the reviews (and threats) guys! Glad to know ppl are still reading the insanity that is this story XD_

_WARNING: This story may not be suitable for children under the age of 13 due to graphic violence, mild language, blood and possible gruesome crime scenes. Parents strongly cautioned. …NOW I'm getting to the Tony whumpage CX_

_PLEASE REVIEW!_

* * *

**NCIS NAVY YARD - FORENSICS LAB 10:57 P.M. EST**

"Fidel has, like, no family living anywhere." Garcia muttered over the plasma screen, scowling at it. "His younger sister, Belita, died of cancer almost ten years ago, while he was still in prison."

"And his parents are divorced." Abby said, pressing her lips together angrily. "They live in Texas and North Carolina."

Hotch and Gibbs both stared at the computer screens, a look of deep concentration on their faces. "There's got to be someone." Hotch said. "Somehow he has access to a secluded property with a freezer large enough to hold a body."

"And those things don't come cheap," Garcia added, "His sister did leave him about $45,000 in her will. She made big money and saved most of it, but her house, which is in Virginia, is owned by her husband. She had two kids."

"According to four separate restraining orders, he had a lot of girlfriends who didn't really like him too much," Abby pointed out. "Most of them live out-of-state now, though."

"Find something, Abby." Gibbs demanded. "He's not keeping Tony and Agent Reid in the middle of some damn field. They're locked up somewhere."

"Gibbs, I'm looking." Abby insisted, "But there really isn't much on this guy."

"Yeah, he's smart enough to use cash everywhere possible and odds are wherever he's keeping Agent DiNozzo and boy genius isn't in his name." Garcia said. "I'm trying to track the sale and delivery of any large, industrial freezers. Since he uses cash, I won't have a paper trail, but companies do tend to make note of where they delivered."

Abby nodded, "And if we can find one delivered to a residential area, that was paid for in cash, we can get you an address."

"Then get it." Gibbs frowned.

"Problem is… There are four major companies that sell freezers that large." Garcia said. "It's gonna take a little while to get all of their information." She licked her lips, glancing at the screen to her right, where she had already begun looking through one of the companies' lists. She and Abby had decided to split the work. She did two, Abby did two. They had to find Reid and Agent DiNozzo soon.

"We need that information, Garcia." Hotch said. "As fast as you can get it."

"I will get it." Garcia promised. "And faster than I normally can with Abby helping."

Abby nodded, her eyes focuses on her own screen, "Don't worry, Gibbs. We're going to find this jerk and save Tony and Reid. It's what we do."

**NCIS NAVY YARD 10:55 P.M. EST**

The rest of the teams stood around Kate's desk looking worried. Kate had just called the office with the dental records again, trying to get them to NCIS sooner, only to find that they had all gone home for the night. She sat in her chair feeling completely useless and tried to ignore that nagging feeling of terror in the pit of her gut. They were going to find Tony. They had to.

She couldn't imagine an office without Tony's annoying immaturity, his crude humor, his occasional random sex story, his… charming smile, his quick wit, that annoying way he tended to be right when she wanted him to be wrong. The way he brought out both the best and worst in everyone and tried - when it came to the victims at least - to be humble… His sometimes brutal honesty. There really wasn't another Tony DiNozzo in the world and over the past couple of years, she'd grown used to his presence, his quirks. She really couldn't imagine not being able to look over at his desk and find him doing something that either made her want to puke or made her want to laugh.

He brought a new element to NCIS. And if she was really being honest, which when it came to DiNozzo, she often wasn't, she missed Tony on those days he wasn't at work. She liked their banter and… Well, she liked Tony. Not as anything more than a friend, of course. God knows she'd die before she dated a man like DiNozzo, but… that didn't mean she couldn't be his friend. And if she thought long enough about him, she'd often wonder if that arrogance he seemed to exude out of every pore of his body was just a front. Just a way for him to keep people out. His own personal wall of Jericho.

JJ stood beside Prentiss on the opposite side of the desk, her stomach rolling at the echoing sounds of Reid's screams on that video. How could someone do that to Reid? To her Spence? He was the kindest, gentlest person she'd ever known in her entire life. He'd never done anything to hurt another living person, not intentionally. She couldn't stand the thought of him not being there. Nothing would be the same.

There was no world without Reid's long, drawn out digressions about some random statistic or fact. No sense in going to work if she didn't hear Morgan once tease his "Pretty Boy" for something. It would be like Garcia suddenly deciding not to smile. Or Hotch giving up on everything. It simple couldn't be.

Reid was the godfather to her son, and though he admittedly wasn't great with children, Henry certainly loved him. He could sit with Reid for hours, listening with the wide eyed curiosity of a toddler, to every word Spence said. He got excited when "Uncle Spencey" was babysitting him, or when he took him to the museum.

She could still remember the day she'd first met the quirky, young genius. Gideon had introduced him to the team after Agent Kerensky's "retirement". He'd stood behind Gideon with a shy sort of smile on his face, his light brown hair longer - not as long as it was now, of course - and falling into those expressive brown eyes. He'd barely said two words while Gideon explained who he was. She remembered he didn't shake anyone's hand at first, instead waving. It wasn't even a real wave, it was more like half of a wave, honestly.

It was Morgan who'd finally gotten a real response out of him - purely by accident. He hadn't thought the younger man was around and, having not truly gotten to know Reid, wasn't too please about his addition to the team. He had been talking to her, wondering if Gideon had lost his mind putting such a naïve kid in the field. What did he know about profiling? Reid had heard him and JJ remembered the crushed look on his face, that hurt that danced so obviously in his eyes. But he didn't run away like both she and Morgan had expected. He'd stood up for himself. Just to prove Morgan wrong, he profiled him, which both impressed the older agent and pissed him off because Reid had been dead on about a lot of things Morgan chose to ignore about himself. She found it strange that just two days later, Morgan was treating Reid like a little brother. It was just that endearing quality he had that made people want to protect him. It was that strength that convinced JJ that Reid would survive this.

They were going to find Mason Fidel and they were going to save Reid. He was too innocent, too honest and pure and just plain decent for this to happen to him. It simply wasn't fair… She remembered Reid saying once "bad things happen to good people all the time". He was the perfect example of that. And one thing she was certain of, as soon as they got him back this time, they were giving him some sort of tracking device so that they didn't lose him again.

**UNKNOWN LOCATION 10:46 P.M. EST**

Tony and Reid waited anxiously for Mason to make his way down the stairs. He was walking at slower pace, his feet scraping against the wood to the point that it was almost irritating. Once he finally reached the landing, his eyes fell on Tony and a small, sadistic smile broke out over his face.

"I'd imagine they've watched the video by now." He said, "I wonder how Agent Hotchner felt, listening to your screams. Watching your pain." His eyes were suddenly fixed on Reid. "Knowing it's all his fault."

Reid could help himself, he frowned up at the man and shook his head. "It's not Hotch's fault. It's your fault _You _chose to do this instead of moving on with your life. It's no one's fault but yours."

Mason scowled at the young doctor and backhanded him. This time, Tony and Reid were faster in their reaction and both threw out their arms to stop him. It didn't make much of a difference, but it did managed to irritate Mason. "Agent Gibbs should enjoy the next video…" he said, turning to glare at Tony.

Tony glared back at him, "Nah, I don't think Gibbs is into horror films." He said, "He's more of a … 007 kinda guy."

Mason raised a brow, bending down to unlock the cuffs. "You can put up whatever bravado you want, Agent DiNozzo, that isn't going to stop me from hurting you."

"Never said it would," Tony replied, "All cowards solve their problems like that."

Mason jerked his head back up the glare at Tony again. "I am no coward."

"Sure you are. Instead of going right after Hotchner and Gibbs, you kidnap two agents on their teams. Scared to face them, Mason? And you used a bomb too, instead of actually facing us like a man when you took us."

Reid watched Tony's face when he was talking to Mason, surprised at how well Tony was profiling Mason without having actually been to any profiling classes himself. Still, most people didn't appreciate that sort of information being thrown in their faces. Mason slammed a fist into Tony's face, knocking his head to the side. Tony let him, glad his words had the response he'd been looking for.

When Mason turned back to his chain, Tony spoke again, wiping the blood from his now split lip. "Doc, you're a profiler. Would you agree that Fidel here's a coward."

Mason jerked roughly on the chain, looking back up at Tony with hate glistening in his eyes. "Careful Agent DiNozzo…" he warned. But it was Reid who spoke next.

"Absolutely. That's the reason he rapes women. He attacks them from behind, beats them and rapes them because they're weaker than him and it makes him feel strong. He knows, deep down, how pathetic he really is."

Mason was livid, his eyes getting blacker, his hands clenched tight into fists as he yanked the cuff violently away from Tony's ankle and yanked him up by the throat, slamming him roughly into the back of the wall. Tony winced but managed another smirk, "What's wrong? Does the truth hurt?" he asked.

Mason started screaming and attempted to punch Tony in the gut, but Tony was faster and unchained now. He caught the man's fist and twisted, shoving him back until the grip on his neck loosened. Most of what Mason was yelling was in Spanish, so Tony and Reid weren't really sure what he was saying, but it was obviously not anything good.

He took another swing at Tony, but the NCIS agent ducked and swerved around him, almost making it to the stairs before Mason tackled him against the table, still swearing loudly. Tony struggled in the man's grasp, but Mason was not only taller, but weighed more than he did and he couldn't shake him off. He managed to knock Mason back against the wall, splitting his forehead open, and kneed him in the crotch, but Mason wrapped a strong forearm around Tony's throat and squeezed until the agent was lightheaded and stopped squirming.

Reid was yelling at Mason, trying to calm him down, but he was background noise to the man. By the time he got Tony to stop struggling, he was breathing harshly, right in his ear. "You're going to regret that, Agent DiNozzo." He hissed, dragging him toward the stairs.

If he'd seen Tony's face he would've been instantly suspicious because he didn't really look all that worried. In fact, he was smiling as Mason forced him up the narrow staircase. He hadn't noticed the miniature crowbar or the screw driver that had slid from the table in the confusion and landed near Reid's feet.

Reid snatched the tools and waited until the door to the basement closed to get to work, amazed that their plan had actually worked… Maybe they _could _get out of here.

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_E/N: I know, I know…_

_That wasn't REALLY much whump, but… Idk, I was stuck on this chapter guys. The muse wasn't talking to me._

_I kinda felt like just talking about Tony and Reid the whole chapter… I digressed a bit, I admit, but I couldn't help myself. Let me know what you think!_

_DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW!_


	15. Chapter 15

_A/N: Thanks so much for all of your awesome reviews guys! Glad you're still enjoying the story, as twisted as it's becoming…_

_WARNING: This story may not be suitable for children under the age of 13 due to graphic violence, mild language, blood and possible gruesome crime scenes. Parents strongly cautioned. Alright, this time I promise, there's REAL whumpage XD_

_PLEASE REVIEW!_

* * *

**UNKNOWN LOCATION 10:53 P.M. EST**

Mason practically slammed Tony into the floor after dragging him up the second flight of stairs and to the room where he'd taken Reid earlier. Tony kept up a strong front, trying hard not to think about whatever pain Mason was going to force on him, but he very nearly threw up when he saw flecks of blood on the floor from where Fidel had mangled the younger agent's knee.

He struggled to get to his feet, grunting and realizing that at least a couple of his ribs had been bruised, but Mason was quick to shove him back down, now holding a pair of handcuffs that had to have come from either Tony or Reid. He yanked them onto Tony's wrists tightly, pulling his arms back painfully.

"What, I don't even get a fighting chance?" Tony couldn't help but mutter. Antagonizing Fidel probably wasn't the best idea, but he wasn't about to let his bravado crack around this son of a bitch.

"Shut up!" Mason snapped, landing a solid punch to the side of Tony's face. Tony coughed and spit blood, scowling as he was dragged to the center of the room and chained to the floor, giving him extremely limited mobility. "Agent Reid was smart enough to keep his mouth shut."

Tony glared at him, "Agent Reid was also hurt worse than I am and probably has a better sense of self-preservation than me."

Mason returned Tony's glare with one of his own and turned his back on the agent, pulling out a camcorder and sitting it on the table, turning it on Tony and hitting record. Tony's jaw tightened when he saw the red light come on. "You're going to record this too?" Tony asked, turning to scowl at Fidel. "Are you trying to piss them off?"

"That's exactly what I'm trying to do." Mason answered, running his hand over his tools, trying to decide which to use.

"Then you're stupider than I thought." Tony informed him. Mason whirled around, glaring at him. "This is just gonna make them look harder for you. And when they do find you, you'll wish you were still in prison."

His dark eyes were on fire then, "SHUT UP!" he bellowed. He snatched a tool at random and approached the agent. Tony's eyes widened and betrayed a hint of fear when he saw the screw driver. He'd never thought that such a small tool could be so incredibly terrifying, but it was.

He filched without meaning to when Mason lifted the tool and brought it down with crushing force on Tony's thigh, tearing through the fabric of his pants and embedding it into his flesh. He didn't scream though, he wasn't going to give Mason the satisfaction. He tensed and prepared for what he knew was coming next as Fidel ripped the screw driver back out, letting the blood flow freely.

He repeated the motion rapidly, stabbing into Tony's leg with the tool until he couldn't fight back a scream anymore, his lips bloody from biting them. He was breathing hard when he finally stopped and Tony's pant leg was soaked with his own blood. The young man collapsed, clenching his eyes tight in an effort not to scream again as Mason straightened up and tossed the screw driver back onto the table.

He turned to watch Tony, tensed and doubled over as much as possible, doing everything he could to hide his pain. Mason smiled, adrenaline rushing through his veins, and he closed his eyes, breathing deeply in satisfaction. "Maybe you'll learn to keep your mouth shut next time, Agent."

Tony looked up at him, steel glinting in his eyes, "…Not likely." He forced out, shaking his head.

Mason glared at him, turning off the camera and approaching Tony, roughly pulling him up and unchaining him. "If you don't I'll cut your damn tongue out. Would that shut you up?"

Tony swallowed, looking straight ahead and not responding as Mason uncuffed him and dragged him back down toward the basement. One way or another, they were going to get out of this hell hole.

**~/.\~**

Reid fought with the chain keeping him shackled to the wall. It wasn't easy work, especially when every small movement that jerked his injured knee sent blinding pain through his entire body. He wasn't really sure how long Tony and Mason were gone. At least a half hour he'd wager.

It had been nearly ten minutes before he'd heard Tony scream the first time. The sound had ripped through him like a knife and he had to fight to block it out and keep working on the chain with the crowbar. The screw driver wasn't much good, the bolts holding the chain to the wall appeared to have been welded over.

He managed to weaken one of the links, but he wasn't anywhere near breaking it off when he heard heavy breathing and the sound of dragging feet approaching the stairs. He hid the crowbar behind him and put the screw driver in his pocket, holding his breath as he waited for them to get back down the basement.

Fidel appeared to be in a bad mood - worse than before at least - when he chained Tony back to the wall. Reid looked in terror at the blood still dripping from the other man's pants. Mason didn't say a word, or even glance at Reid, before turning and going back up the stairs. By Reid's math it was nearly midnight. He was probably tired and had to get the rest of his 'brilliant' plan in action before the next day.

Reid swallowed, realizing that unless they could find some way out of there, or their teams showed up soon, they had roughly twenty-four hours left to live. Tony grimaced as he shifted and turned to look at Reid, "Did you get it?" he asked.

Reid nodded, pulling the crowbar back out, "I started working on this link. It's bending a little, but it's going to take a while to break it."

Tony studied the metal, "It's something at least. Let me see the crowbar,"

Reid passed it to him slowly, licking his lips. "…Are you alright?"

"Me? Never better…" Tony muttered, sliding the crowbar into the link and pulling with all his strength, quickly running out of breath and dropping the tool. There was hardly even a dent in it. "Damn…" he sighed. "This is gonna take a while."

Reid bit his lips, studying the blood on Tony's pants, "…Are you sure you're alright?"

"I'm fine, Doc. Let's worry about getting out here for now, alright? We can let the doctors worry about fixing us up, ok?"

"…Ok." Reid nodded, pulling out the screw driver and trying to help the other man as they worked on that one weakened link in the chain. They were at it for hours, futilely trying to break the strong metal. It seemed impossible, but they couldn't give up. To give up meant to accept fate and death at the hands of the psycho upstairs somewhere. Neither of them were willing to do that. No matter what it took, they were determined to make it out alive.

**NCIS NAVY YARD 7:12 A.M. EST**

Prentiss and Morgan stood behind Kate at her desk, all wearing the same rumpled clothes they'd been wearing before. McGee had made an early morning coffee run when they'd woken up - with about four hours of decent sleep, if that. They all slept in the cramped office space, none of them too willing to go home. At six forty they were awake again, ready to go.

Abby and Garcia were still looking through the freezer companies' records, Gibbs and Hotch were standing by Gibbs's desk, both holding their own cups of coffee, though neither had taken a drink yet. JJ and Rossi were staring at the plasma screen, watching news coverage of the story with bitter frowns. The media had at least not gotten any information about Tony and Reid's abduction, though it hadn't been easy to keep it from them.

"I understand, but we need those dental records ASAP." Kate said, holding the phone to her ear with her chin while she searching through family files on Mason Fidel. "Thank you." She sighed and hung up, shaking her head. "They said they'd get them over in an hour, that's the best they could do."

"Hopefully Garcia and Abby will find something in those freezer purchases soon." Morgan said, reading the computer screen over her shoulder. "Alright, I'll call the aunt, Prentiss you call his cousin in D.C. …Agent McGee's calling the brother-in-law, right?"

"Yeah," Kate nodded, "I'll get the grandfather." She picked her phone back up and the three agents quickly dialed separate numbers, all praying that at least one of these people had kept in contact with Fidel over the years. Someone out there had to know where he was staying.

Gibbs and Hotch watched the other members of their teams, their mouths set in similar hard lines of anger. Hours of work, searching, no sleep and no leads. It was starting to get to them. Hotch glared back down at the original case file on Mason Fidel, remembering when he'd first met the man. Something had been off about him then, he didn't want to know what Reid and Agent DiNozzo were going through… But he was certain he was going to make Fidel pay for what he was putting his team through.

Gibbs was staring across the room at the plasma screen, not really seeing what was on the screen as it flashed photographs of the previous victims. All he could see was that young agent chained to the floor, all he could hear was his screams. It had been bad enough being Doctor Reid… He didn't want to admit how much it nearly tore him apart to think about what that bastard was doing to DiNozzo. One thing was for sure, whenever he found Fidel, he was going to make him scream like he'd made that kid scream. He was going to pay for this one way or another.

Both senior agents were pulled out of their blood thirsty thoughts when JJ and Rossi rushed over to them, holding another package like the one they'd received the night before. "This was found on your car in the parking lot…" JJ said, handing it to Gibbs.

The two men locked eyes, already knowing what was contained in the package. They turned at almost the same time toward the elevators. "Let's go see Abby…"

* * *

_E/N: Alright, that wasn't a REAL cliffhanger… You guys already know what's on that tape._

_Sort of an emotional chapter, huh? But I finally got to the Tony whumpage XD sort of makes me smile… (which is COMPLETELY normal…)_

_DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW!_

_PS- If any of you are reading my Morgan/Reid series, I just posted the first chapter of "Wedding Bells", the sixth installment! Check it out if you're interested!_


	16. Chapter 16

_A/N: I'm super sorry for the delay in updating guys! I had to fight with some serious writer's block and then last Thursday was my last day before a 5 day weekend (we get out for the County Fair every year bc a lot of students have to be there and most want to - me excluded)_

_Anyway, thanks so much for your reviews and patience! Once again, I apologize!_

_WARNING: This story may not be suitable for children under the age of 13 due to graphic violence, mild language, blood and possible gruesome crime scenes. Parents strongly cautioned. I can feel the climax of the story coming… this chapter or the next…_

_PLEASE REVIEW!_

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**NCIS NAVY YARD - FORENSICS LAB 7:20 A.M. EST**

Hotch, Gibbs and Abby stood behind the computer as the Goth tech inserted the DVD into the drive. They'd told Kate, Rossi, McGee, Prentiss and JJ to stay upstairs and continue working on finding Fidel's family. Garcia was on the laptop screen behind them, still searching through the freezer companies' records. Abby glanced back at them, a rare look of anxious fear on her face, and pressed 'play'.

The screen was suddenly occupied with the image of an extremely angry Tony DiNozzo. Gibb's fists tightened as his whole body visibly tensed. It had been bad enough watching while Dr. Reid was tortured; Fidel was really pissing him off putting Tony in this video.

Despite how horrible it was knowing what was about to happen, Gibbs couldn't help but be proud of Tony for holding his ground against the bastard. He glanced toward Abby when she gasped as Fidel wielded a screw driver in anger and stabbed Tony.

Tony lasted a long time before he started screaming. That was the hardest part to deal with. Tony DiNozzo did _not _scream. It was just something that didn't happen. Gibbs swallowed and just glared at the black screen.

"Gibbs…" Abby said quietly, pulling him out of his dark thoughts.

He didn't respond, turning on his heel and storming out with so much hatred in his eyes they were nearly black. Hotch gave the young woman a sympathetic look before briskly following the other man out of the lab.

**NCIS NAVY YARD - OUTSIDE OF FORENSICS LAB 7:56 A.M.**

"Jethro…" Hotch caught up to the man and they stopped just outside of the elevators.

"What?" Gibbs ground the word through his teeth, seething with anger at the memory of that video.

Hotch sighed. He'd worked with Gibbs for several months on the Fidel case, he remembered that the man could sometimes be as apparently unemotional as he was… and other times when he reacted similar to the way Morgan would. "Don't let him get to you. That's what he wants."

"And it's sure as hell working, Hotch!" Gibbs spat back. "That was my agent on the screen in there! Being tortured! If you think that's not going to piss me off -"

"Yesterday it was my agent!" Hotch cut him off. "And I'm just as angry as you are. But at least that means they're still alive."

"He could've filmed this all last night." Gibbs said. "And killed them."

"But I don't think he did. He wants to drag this out and make them suffer." Hotch argued, shaking his head.

Gibbs's fists were tight. Clearly he wanted blood. He stared at Hotch for a long moment without saying anything. Hotch remembered the guilt he'd felt the first time Reid had been kidnapped, he was feeling it now too. He'd just gotten better at controlling it. And from what he'd heard, Agent DiNozzo had gotten into a few scrapes himself. He imagined that Gibbs was probably feeling similarly, and just not wanting to hide his hatred.

Finally, Gibbs spoke again. "When we find this bastard, we're putting him away for good. Even if that means killing him."

**NCIS NAVY YARD - MORGUE 8:18 A.M. EST**

Ducky held the dental X-rays up to the screen and compared them to their charred Jane Doe lying on the slab behind him. The other bodies had been put away neatly. They would be released to the families later in the day.

Sighing he shook his head at the first set of x-rays and pulled out the next ones, squinting at them and hoping to find a match. At least it would mean giving the family some sort of closure. "Match… match… match…" he murmured underneath his breath, matching up the x-rays. Laying the sheet aside he quickly walked over to his phone and called Kate.

_"Yeah Ducky?"_

"I just received the dental records from the three missing Petty Officers… Our Jane Doe is Jillian Tills."

_"I'll let Gibbs know. Thank you Ducky."_

She hung up and Ducky sighed, putting the records away and staring down at the young woman's body. He wasn't sure how much good it would do for the case to know the unfortunate young woman's name, but at least it meant that her family no longer had to wonder about what had happened to her.

**UNKNOWN LOCATION 8:45 A.M. EST**

Tony jerked awake suddenly and squinted around the dark basement space, confused for a moment. He blinked the sleep from his eyes, wondering what had woken him up. Whatever it was, it had jolted Reid up as well and he sat, scrubbing at his eyes. They'd gotten the link on Reid's chain to bend somewhat and Tony figured if they had a little more time, they might be able to break it.

"You alright?" he asked, glancing worriedly at Reid. They were both covered in grime from sleeping on the cold basement floor all night and were understandably stiff and aching - not to mention the incessant throbbing of their wounds and Tony's aching chest from when Fidel had tackled him the night before.

"Sore… but I'm fine." He reached for the crowbar and winced, picking up the chain and starting to work on it again. Their hands were raw and bloody from the hours they'd spent doing so the night before. Tony took the crowbar from him and slid it behind them in a crack near the wall to hide it from Fidel.

"You look pale."

"So do you," the young man shot back. "We're both tired, weak, hungry and hurt. But if we're going to get out of here, this is our best chance."

"I know that," Tony said. "But _you _need to take a break. It's my turn to work on it, remember?"

Reid shook his head, "I can do it, Agent DiNozzo." He told him.

Tony sighed, "Could you at least call me Tony then?"

"What?"

"My name is Tony. Call me Tony, Doc."

Reid felt a smile twitch his lips, "We're trapped in a basement and you're worried about how I address you?"

Tony thought about it for a minute and nodded, "Yes. Even McGee doesn't call me Agent DiNozzo anymore."

Reid sighed, "Fine, Tony." He relented. "I can work on the chain. I'm not _that _weak."

"Never said you were. I said it was my turn." Tony clarified. Reid opened his mouth to argue again, but then they heard the basement door being opened and fell silent, both staring anxiously towards it as Mason descended the stairs again.

He was carrying two trays of food which he nearly threw at them. It looked like what could possibly be oatmeal… but it was the most unappetizing oatmeal either of them had ever seen. "Breakfast." Fidel muttered grouchily. Clearly he wasn't in a good mood.

Tony blinked, staring at him, "What? No pancakes?"

Fidel growled low in his throat, glaring at him.

"Waffles then?" Tony asked, looking up at him, a smirk flitting across his face.

"Why are you feeding us if your just going to kill us later?" Reid asked quickly before Tony could make Mason any angrier than he already was.

"I don't want you two getting sick and dying on me before I'm finished." Mason answered. "We still have a couple more videos to make."

Reid and Tony swallowed hard, looking away from the man. Tony lifted the plastic spoon that was on the tray and let a spoonful of the mushy food drop back down with a thick sounding _plop_. "Is this part of the torture?" he asked, raising a brow at their captor. "Because it looks like something a pig wouldn't eat."

Mason snarled and glared at him. "Either eat it yourself or I'll force it down your throat, Agent DiNozzo. It's that simple. I'll be back in a couple of hours." He turned and headed back up the stairs, slamming the basement door behind him as he felt.

Tony made a face at the food and pushed it away. He pulled the crowbar back out and slid it into the link, bending it. Reid sighed, "You should eat," he told him. "It'll at least keep you from getting weak from hunger."

"I'm fine." Tony grunted as he yanked against the chain. "That food looks toxic anyway. And if we've got a couple of hours, we might be able to break this chain before he gets back."

"Ok, maybe but -" Before Reid could say anything else, the crowbar jerked out of Tony's hands and there was a metallic snapping sound as the link snapped apart.

The agents were both suddenly smiling and Tony started laughing, "We did it!" he sat the crowbar aside as Reid slid the chain off the wall and moved his good leg - which was thankfully the one with the cuff attached - to test the weight of it.

"Ok… Can you walk to the table?" Tony asked. "I noticed some bolt cutters over there that could break my chain."

Reid licked his lips, "I can try…" he said, pushing himself up with his hands. He steadied himself on his good leg and tried to use the wall for support, but he only made it one step before his knee crumpled underneath him and he almost toppled to the floor. Thankfully, he caught himself before that happened, but his eyes were clenched tight with pain.

"Are you ok?" Tony demanded.

"I'm fine." Reid hissed, grunting. "Just… give me a minute." He took several deep breaths and this time didn't try to stand, he half crawled, grimacing the entire time, over to the tool table and pulled himself up using the tabletop for leverage.

Breathing heavily, he snatched the bolt cutters and slid back down to the floor. He sat still for several long minutes, he knee on fire with the pain, before laboriously making his way back to where Tony was sitting and handing him the tool.

"You're sure you're ok?" Tony asked again, eyeing him worriedly.

"I'll be ok." Reid assured him.

Tony frowned, not believing him for a second, and turned his attention to the chain around his ankle. He slid the bolt cutters around a link near his cuff and pushed with all his might. It didn't work and after a minute, he was out of breath. "Damn it…" he breathed, closing eyes and starting to try again.

"Let me help," Reid said, reaching out and putting his hands beneath Tony's. Together, they fought with the bolt cutters before finally hearing the satisfying _snap _of the link breaking.

Tony sat the device to his side and twisted his ankle to loosen it up, breathing a sigh of relief. "Let's get out of here…" he grinned at Reid, standing and wincing as his thigh flared up. He winced and put pressure against the wounds, which had thankfully stopped bleeding, and hobbled his way to the table.

"We need to make you a splint or something…" he said thoughtfully, leaning against the table for support.

"You could just leave and go get -"

"Not gonna happen, Doc." Tony shook his head, looking around the room. He spotted two small pieces of plywood that could work, but there wasn't anything to really secure them with. He grabbed the wood and shuffled back to Reid, kneeling down, frowning.

Then he suddenly thought of something and tore his t-shirt off, using the screwdriver to help him tear it into strips.

"What are you -"

"Hang on. Let me see your knee." Tony insisted. Reid straightened his leg as much as possible, wincing as he did so and Tony placed the boards on either side of his injured knee, tying the torn strips of his shirt around it to create a make-shift splint.

"There." He grinned. "Can you walk now?"

Reid frowned and with Tony's help, stood slowly. It still hurt, but it did make it a lot easier to walk. He nodded.

Tony smiled, "Good… Now we can get out of here."

"Wait." Reid stopped him.

"What?" Tony frowned. "Don't tell me you want to stay."

"No… but he could still be upstairs, and the basement door is locked. Wouldn't it be better to wait until he comes back down here? Then we could surprise him with the crowbar and knock him out."

Tony thought about it, nodding. "Good idea," he said, limping over to where the crowbar was still hidden and picking it up. "We'll just wait him out then."

* * *

_E/N: No, that's wasn't JUST an excuse for Tony to take his shirt off… They did need to make a splint for Reid's knee XD It was just the most appealing option…_

_Hope you enjoyed it! Thanks for your support and reviews!_

_DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW!_


	17. Chapter 17

_A/N: Thanks so much to all of you for your fantastical reviews! You guys rock! XD_

_I'm pretty sure that the story is on its way to being finished (there are still a few more chapters of course… I'm not gonna cut you guys off…) I never expected it to be this long… But it's only 'cause you guys have been so awesome!_

_WARNING: This story may not be suitable for children under the age of 13 due to graphic violence, mild language, blood and possible gruesome crime scenes. Parents strongly cautioned. It's still fun to write that…_

_PLEASE REVIEW!_

* * *

**NCIS NAVY YARD 8:34 A.M. EST**

"Find me everything you can on Jillian Tills," Gibbs ordered.

"On it, boss." McGee nodded, taking a seat at his desk and hurriedly typing away. So far, they'd at least been able to ID their Jane Doe and speak with Fidel's grandfather and cousin. They'd left messages for the other family members to contact them. Unfortunately, neither the grandfather nor the cousin had seen or heard from Mason since before his arrest and subsequent conviction. The guy wasn't a family man.

Morgan and Kate were going to notify Jillian Tills's family of her death; Prentiss was working with Rossi to locate more family members while Abby and Garcia worked on the freezer companies and JJ managed the press. Gibbs and Hotch were talking at Gibbs's desk about the original Fidel case and anything they may have overlooked in the profile.

"He's a narcissist," Hotch reiterated, "And suffers from a borderline personality disorder…"

"Obviously…" Gibbs muttered angrily, glaring down at Fidel's mug shot that had been taken the day he was arrested.

"He had several unstable relationships with women…" Hotch continued. "His anger towards women stems from his relationship with his mother."

"Right, and he likes being in control," Gibbs remembered.

"He's a sexual sadist and an anger-excitation rapist," Hotch recapped finally, his perpetual frown in place on his face.

"So how does that help us?"

Hotch thought about it, "This whole thing has been a game to him. And he's making all the rules, calling all the shots. He's in control. He'll have them in secluded place that he knows. Somewhere difficult to find and most likely far away from any towns or cities."

"A house in the woods?" Gibbs raised a brow.

"Maybe," Hotch nodded, thinking. "And he's obviously enjoying their pain. The next video we get will be worse than the first two… He's going to escalate the torture."

"But not kill them…?" Gibbs asked, frowning.

"That I don't know." Hotch reluctantly admitted. "If he really is working on a schedule, and I believe that he is, then he'll have a set time that he plans on killing them. The last video will be of their deaths if we don't find them in time."

"We will find them." Gibbs said. His tone left no room for argument. They _were _going to find them, they _were _going to get them out of there safely and they _were _going to put a bullet between Mason Fidel's eyes. It was that simple.

Hotch nodded stiffly, unable to allow himself to believe in any other outcome. He'd let Reid get kidnapped once before, seen him die and come back, worried twice about the seemingly inevitability of his death in two hostage situations. He wasn't going to lose him this time and he wasn't going to fail him like this ever again…

**UNKNOWN LOCATION 11:03 A.M. EST**

The two hours that Reid and Tony sat in the dingy basement waiting for Fidel to come back down stairs were the longest, most boring hours of their lives. They hardly said a word to each other during the agonizing wait except to ask periodically how the other was feeling. Both men were pale, nearly starving (have refused to risk the 'oatmeal' Mason had given them), tired and in severe pain.

Needless to say, neither of them stood up for very long before the aches and throbbing pain in their legs forced them to sit down again. Tony held the crowbar in his hands, being the strongest and the most able on his feet. Reid sat uncomfortably against the wall, staring up at the flickering bulb, thoughts racing in his mind about how incredibly useless he was feeling.

He couldn't walk, he wasn't much of a hand-to-hand fighter and he didn't have a weapon. Well, not counting the screw driver that he held mostly for reassurance and to make believe he was doing something. He promised himself that once he and Tony got out of this mess, he was going to get someone to teach him how to fight… At least better than he did now, because flailing around blindly wasn't really 'fighting'…

Tony on the other hand, could help but think that without Reid there, he'd still be trapped in this basement. He'd probably die down here. Reid had been the one who managed to weaken the link in the first place, Reid had realized how much riskier it would be to go upstairs now… And if he hadn't had Reid there to help him with the bolt cutters, he never would've broken the link on his own chain.

They both looked up when they heard the door scraping open against the wooden floors. Tony struggled to his feet and helped Reid up, both hiding on either side of the opening at the base of the stairs. Fidel's heavy feet came dragging down the steps and Tony lifted the crowbar in anticipation, licking his lips and tightening his grip on the tool.

As soon as Mason's dark hair poked around the wall, his face a mask of confusion when he saw that the agents weren't chained to the opposite wall, Tony swung down with all his strength, slamming the heavy metal bar into the back of Fidel's head.

The man gasped and crumpled to the ground, blood starting to seep out of his head. He groaned when he hit the floor and went limp after a moment. Reid watched him, wide eyed and turned to Tony, "He won't be out for very long," he said urgently. Tony nodded and grabbed Reid's arm, helping him up the slow and painful walk to the main house.

"Front door…" Tony muttered, looking around frantically. They were facing the second stairway to the upper level of the house and two halls leading in different directions.

Reid was already breathing laboriously and licked his lips, "Let's try this hall…" he nodded to the one right in front of them. "There's more light coming from the end of it. Maybe that means a window or a glass door…"

Tony nodded and started to head that way, but stopped, studying Reid for a moment. "Are you sure you can walk?" he asked skeptically.

"I… It's difficult, but I'll make it. Go ahead, I'll catch up -"

"No." Tony shook his head, taking Reid's arm and slinging it over his shoulder, supporting most his weight so that the pressure on his injured knee wasn't as bad. While it added to the weight on Tony's injured leg, the stab wounds weren't as hard to walk with as a shattered knee… "I told you I'm not leaving you behind, Doc. We're getting out of this together. Same way we got into it."

Reid sighed and allowed Tony to help him down the hall, wincing every now and then as pain flashed through his leg. They were a lot slower than they probably could've been if Reid had been able to walk by himself, but they reached the end of the hall and turned into what appeared to be a living room and to the right was the foyer and front door.

Sighing in relief, they continued their slow shuffle toward the door and fought with it until it swung open. Tony swore under his breath when he looked around and saw nothing but trees and woods. It was late morning by his estimation and he couldn't see a road, even a dirt one, anywhere.

They were standing on a small porch and it was a fight to make it down the steep steps leading to the door, but they managed it. Tony spotted a truck and a van sitting in the leave-strewn yard and they made their way to the vehicles.

"There aren't any keys," Reid said as Tony peered into the van's windows.

"Of course there aren't," Tony agreed, "But hotwiring something isn't that difficult."

Reid raised a brow, but Tony limped his way over to the truck and pulled open the driver's side door. "I just need a few minutes and we can be out of here -"

There was a loud bellow and a crash coming from inside of the house. Reid stared toward it in panic, "I don't think we have a few minutes," he whispered urgently.

"Damn it," Tony swore under his breath and dragged Reid around to the other side of the house. They could hear Fidel slamming the front door and heading toward the vehicles. Tony snuck a peak around the corner and saw him checking them inside and out. "We need to run for it…" Tony whispered to Reid.

"I can't walk," Reid said. "You'll have to go without me."

"Not happening, Doc." Tony hissed, shaking his head. "Just wait…" he watched Fidel carefully, waiting for when his back was turned, and suddenly wrapped an arm around the younger man's waist, dragging him away from the house and into the woods. Reid gasped in surprised and winced at the sudden movement, but didn't have to work too hard to keep up, Tony's momentum keeping him in check.

They got into the thicker part of the forest and Tony stopped, slumping against a tree, breathing heavily. "…Now… what?" he asked, glancing to Reid, who was leaning against another tree for support, desperately wanting to get off of his knee, but knowing that it would just be that much harder to get back up again if he sat down.

"We need to find a road," Reid said, "There has to be a trail or a dirt road out here somewhere that leads to the highway. Once we find that, we can flag down a car for help…"

"And which way are we supposed to go to find this road?" Tony asked, raising a brow.

Reid thought about it, glancing back in the direction of the house they'd just escaped from. "Away from there," he said finally.

Tony laughed, a slightly bitter edge to it. "Pick a direction…" he muttered. "Hell's that way so… let's go this way." He stood up and Reid managed to hobble towards him, wincing as he did. Tony went to grab his arm again, but Reid shook his head.

"I'll be ok for now." He assured the other man. "Let's just get out of here."

From somewhere behind them they heard an engine start and Reid winced, this time having nothing to do with the pain in his knee. He glanced back toward the house and added, "Fast."

* * *

_E/N: We're getting somewhere, huh? So they made it out of the house, but their still in the woods (literally…) Mason is looking for them and the team is looking for them._

_Wonder who'll find them first… XD_

_SHH! It's a secret so I can't tell you! LOL_

_DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW!_


	18. Chapter 18

_A/N: Thanks so much to all of you for all of your awesome reviews! You guys are all amazing! And of course, thanks for being patient w/me while my lack of internet and writer's block screw with my updating abilities!_

_WARNING: This story may not be suitable for children under the age of 13 due to graphic violence, mild language, blood and possible gruesome crime scenes. Parents strongly cautioned._

_PLEASE REVIEW!_

* * *

**GROVER, VIRGINIA - TILLS'S RESIDENCE 9:45 A.M. EST**

"Do these things ever get any easier?" Kate whispered under her breath as she and Morgan stepped out of the SUV outside of Jillian Tills's parent's house.

"Not in the years I've been doing this job," Morgan replied, sliding his sunglasses on and knocking on the door. He and Kate had somehow managed to draw the short straw and had been 'chosen' to deliver the news of Jillian's death to her parents. Of course… it was possible that JJ had a worse deal than they did, having to handle the annoying hassle of reporters wanting in on the story.

And older couple answered the door, both in their mid-fifties, healthy looking. "Mr. and Mrs. Tills?" Morgan asked, flashing his badge. "Can we come in?"

They shared a worried look before nodding and leading the agents into a small living room. "This is about Jill, isn't it?" Mrs. Tills asked, her eyes already sad, as if she knew what they were going to say. And maybe she did… People always say they can feel when someone they love dies and if that was true, then it would be doubly true for a mother.

Kate nodded somberly, "We…" she swallowed, closing her eyes. "We found her body yesterday."

Mr. Tills sank down onto the couch, putting his head in his hands and making a low moaning sound, despair thick in his voice. "…Do you… do you know what happened to her?"

Morgan glanced at Kate, "…She was strangled." He said quietly.

"Can we see her?" Mrs. Tills asked, tears glistening in her eyes.

"That's probably not a good idea –" Kate started to say.

"Why not?" Mr. Tills demanded. "She was our daughter! We have a right to see her!"

"Of course you do, Mr. Tills." Morgan tried to placate the older man. "But… But you probably wouldn't want to see her like this. She… After she was killed, whoever killed her… tried to hide who she was by attaching a bomb to her…"

"A bomb…" Mrs. Tills's eyes were wide with sadness.

"They tried to cover it up?" Mr. Tills frowned, a knowing look passing between him and his wife. "It was Mason, wasn't it?"

"Excuse me?" Kate frowned, her eyes darting to Morgan.

"Mason Fidel. They had just broken up when she disappeared. There was something off about him. We tried to tell the cops, but they couldn't find him. He didn't have his own apartment, he was staying with some friend."

"What friend?" Morgan asked urgently.

"Um… Tim or Jim or something like that. His last name was Wilson, wasn't it?" Mr. Tills frowned at his wife.

She nodded, "Yes. Jimmy Wilson."

Kate and Morgan stood, "Thank you," Kate said. "We are so sorry for your loss."

"You're going to find the bastard, aren't you?" Mr. Tills demanded as they made their way back to the door.

"You can count on it," Morgan assured him, his voice cold with anger.

**NCIS NAVY YARD – FORENSICS LAB 9:59 A.M. EST**

"I've got three residential houses that freezers were delivered too," Abby said finally. "You?"

"Four," Garcia said, not looking up from her screen. "I'll run a check on the names and – Hold on. My Chocolate God is calling." She hit the speaker button on her phone. "You've reached the office of unfettered superiority. How may assist you, Mortal?"

_"Run a check on James Wilson, Baby Girl. Fidel was apparently staying with him for a while when he was dating Jillian Tills. I need an address."_

"Done and done." Garcia said, her fingers flying across the keyboard. "He doesn't seem like the kind of guy who'd hang out with a rapist… His record's totally clean. And his address is now on its way to your phone,"

_"Thanks, Garcia. I think we just might be getting closer to getting Reid back."_

"You'd better be," Garcia warned. "Because if you don't find him fast, you're going to have to deal with a very pissed off Penelope. And you wouldn't want that at all." She hung up and started searching through the names she had on her list.

"Garcia?" Abby suddenly looked up.

"Yes?" Garcia glanced at the other tech from the screen on her laptop.

"Wasn't that Jane Doe that was blown up Jillian Tills?" she asked.

"I'm pretty sure, yes." Garcia nodded.

"So Fidel was dating her, right?"

"That's what Derek said," Garcia frowned, wondering where she was going with this.

"I think I know where Fidel's keeping Dr. Reid and Tony!" Abby said, her eyes lighting up.

"What? Where?"

"Jillian Tills lived in a cabin out in the woods. She inherited the place from her grandfather! It's the perfect place to keep someone captive and the house in one of the residences on my list!" Abby look excited. "I've gotta go to tell Gibbs!"

**UNKNOWN LOCATION – WOODS 11:24 A.M. EST**

"We're walking in circles," Tony muttered. They hadn't been walking very long yet, but he could already tell Reid wasn't up for much more. They were barely making any progress with both of them limping like they were. "There's got to be a trail or something out here."

Reid winced and grunted, stopping and bracing himself against a tree. "There probably is. But we've got to find it first. You go on ahead and see if you can –"

"I don't know why I keep repeating myself, Doc, but I'm not leaving you alone. You can't outrun this bastard on one good leg. You can hardly limp. I'm not gonna let you get hurt any more than you already are. I'm pretty sure that team of yours wouldn't appreciate me too much…"

Reid laughed, shaking his head. "I'm fine, really. You can cover more ground if you're moving ahead."

"Maybe. But then I won't be able to make sure that Fidel doesn't grab you while I'm ahead of you. This is the safest way to do things. There's safety in numbers and two heads are better than one… all that crap."

Reid rolled his eyes, "Fine." He relented. "Then we need to keep moving. We're both injured and on foot. He's in a truck, driving around looking for us and knows we can't get very far."

"Do you think we could climb a tree?" Tony asked, looking up the tree he was currently leaning against.

"You might could. There's no way I'm getting up a tree with my knee like it is."

"Right…" Tony sighed and before Reid could protest, he looped the younger man's arm around his shoulder and they started walking again. They still hadn't really gotten a direction. All they knew was that they were going _away _from Fidel.

"I can walk…" Reid started to argue.

"No you can't. I gave you about fifteen minutes of walking without help and you were in pain the whole time. This way, we move faster and you aren't adding more damage to that knee."

Reid sighed, but could really argue with his logic. It made sense, he just didn't like feeling like he wasn't good for anything and at that moment, he really felt like dead weight.

"How long have we been gone anyway?" Tony wondered aloud after a few minutes.

"Huh?" Reid frowned at the other man.

"How long has it been since we were taken?" Tony asked.

"…I don't know. More than twelve hours at least. It was about five thirty when we were taken and it's late morning now… Almost a twenty-four hours."

"I bet Gibbs is pissed right about now…" Tony mused. "I wonder how they're holding up. Probably totally lost without me…"

Reid raised a brow, shaking his head. "Has anyone ever told you that you're insane?" he asked.

"Several times." Tony shrugged. "They don't get my sense of humor…"

Reid smiled. He understood it. Tony was like that because making jokes and pretending things were fine was his way of not fully acknowledging that something was wrong in the first place. It was how he dealt with his fear. Which was strange, because whenever he was trying to convince Reid that they were going to get out of this mess, he was entirely serious…

"Doc?" Tony asked suddenly.

"Yeah?"

"When you were kidnapped before, did your team find you?"

"Yes, they did." Reid answered. "What about yours?"

"Of course. Gibbs wouldn't leave me to die." He smirked. "If he wanted me dead he'd just shoot me himself." He paused, "How'd they take down your kidnapper?"

"Oh… they didn't." Reid said. "I… I did."

Tony glanced over at the man leaning against him. "Really?"

"Yeah. I shot him when he turned to see the search lights." Reid licked his lips, his eyes far away

Tony watched his face for a minute, hearing the pain in Reid's voice, and changed the subject. "… Can I ask you something? And be honest…"

"What?" Reid asked, skeptically raising a brow.

"Would you rather be kidnapped with me or be alone?"

Reid thought that was an odd question to ask, but answered anyway. "It's a lot easier with someone else there to help escape and think straight… And walk."

Tony laughed, "Right, walking's a biggie." He shook his head.

Reid winced when his foot caught on a root.

"Sorry," Tony said quickly, moving slightly to support Reid's weight better.

"Stop, look!" Reid suddenly turned.

"What is it?" Tony frowned.

"There's a hiking tail over there. About ten yards away. Maybe it leads to a road."

Tony sighed in relief, glad they had something more to go on now than a bunch of trees and the general direction of _away. _"Let's find out…"

* * *

_E/N: So… Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter! The teams are soon to be on their ways and Mason is still looking for Tony and Reid…_

_And Tony and Reid are bonding :3 How sweet… I told you guys you could pretty easily pretend this is Tony/Reid… I wasn't kidding, was I? Anyway, hope you liked it! Let me know!_

_Oh, and Grover, Virginia doesn't exists to my knowledge. I just made it up 'cause having no internet and being slightly lazy means I didn't feel like looking up small Virginian towns near Quantico…_

_DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW!_


	19. Chapter 19

_A/N: Thanks so much for all of your reviews guys! Glad you're still enjoying the story._

_I never expected it to go on for so long… Thanks for sticking with me!_

_WARNING: This story may not be suitable for children under the age of 13 due to graphic violence, mild language, blood and possible gruesome crime scenes. Parents strongly cautioned._

_PLEASE REVIEW!_

* * *

**NCIS NAVY YARD 10:11 A.M. EST**

"Gibbs!" Abby practically exploded off of the elevator and ran to Gibbs's desk, where he and Hotch were still sitting, talking. They'd just gotten off the phone with Kate, who called to relay the information they'd found on Jillian Tills and her relationship with Mason.

She paused, catching her breath while the silver haired agent stared up at her with a frown. "What is it, Abby?" Gibbs asked skeptically.

"Jillian Tills… She was dating Fidel!"

"I know that Abby," Gibbs frowned. "Kate just called. Why aren't you going through the freezer company records?"

"Because I think I know where Tony and Dr. Reid are! Jillian owned a house out in the woods. In West Virginia. It's only a few miles away from the nature preserve where Jessica Landing's body was found. And a freezer was delivered to the same residence over a year ago."

Gibbs and Hotch stood up, holstering their guns. "I'll call Morgan and Agent Todd," Hotch said. "Rossi! JJ! Prentiss!" he called over his shoulder.

"McGee!" Gibbs barked at the same time. "Let's go."

**WEST VIRGINIA - JILLIAN TILLS'S HOUSE 11: 48 A.M. EST**

They came to end of a narrow, winding and bumpy dirt trail. There wasn't even a real road that led out to the two story house out in the woods. As the agents jumped out of the SUVs they looked around the barren yard. There was a van sitting near the front door, which was standing open. The truck they were sure he had was nowhere in sight. "Let's move," Gibbs said, drawing his gun. Hotch was right behind him as they slowly ascended the porch steps and entered through the door.

It was quiet in the house. They could hear their own footsteps snapping against the wooden floors. They came to two stairways. One leading upstairs, the other down to the basement.

"JJ, you and Rossi go upstairs," Hotch ordered, his eyes glancing up the stairs and catching site of small droplets of blood.

"McGee, go with them." Gibbs added before starting down the basement steps. Kate, Prentiss, Hotch and Morgan followed. The farther they got down, the colder it seemed to be.

"This is where he kept them…" Hotch murmured, staring around the dim lit, dank basement dungeon. They could see where their friends had been chained to the wall opposite of them. They saw rusty tools on a rickety wooden table and a crowbar stained with someone's blood.

Gibbs knelt by the chains, "They've been broken," he said, motioning to the bolt cutters lying next to one of the broken chains.

"They escaped."

"That means they're out there, in the woods somewhere," Prentiss said, sliding her gun in it's holster and shivering against the cold air in the room.

"And he's chasing them," Kate said grimly as they climbed out of the basement and headed upstairs. They met Rossi and McGee halfway.

"You've got see this, boss." McGee said, leading them back upstairs where JJ was standing in a small room, her hand to her mouth. In the center of the room was the hook where Fidel had chained Reid and Tony. Sitting on the table in the far end of the room was a collection of tools he obviously planned on using against their friends. The worst part was the blood, both Tony's and Reid's, that stained the floor in the middle of the room.

"He filmed it here," Rossi said.

Hotch and Gibbs had the same eerie look of hate and determination on their faces as they stared into the room they'd only before seen in horrific videos of torture. Without saying a word, the two men turned and exited the room briskly.

The rest of the agents looked around at each other worriedly. After a moment, Rossi said, "We should get search dogs out here and more agents. We need to find them before Fidel does."

**WEST VIRGINIA - WOODS 11:57 A.M. EST**

"Stop… stop," Tony breathed, sweat starting to bead on his forehead. They'd made it about three hundred yards up the narrow dirt path. His leg was starting to throb more painfully than before and he could feel blood drying and crusting on his skin with every step he took. He could only imagine how much harder it was for Reid to walk when his leg was totally mangled.

Reid stopped, letting Tony's supportive arm fall away from him as he leaned against a tree, clenching his eyes against his own pain and taking several deep breaths in an effort to ignore it.

"Are you alright?" he asked, licking his lips and glancing worriedly at the other agent.

"I'll be fine," Tony assured him. "Just needed to take a break for a minute."

"It's probably best if we keep moving…" Reid said slowly.

"I know, I know…" Tony nodded. "With that psycho on our tail we shouldn't stay in one place for too long, but who knows how long it'll take for us to reach the end of this trail? It could be miles long."

After a moment, Tony frowned. "How long do you think this bastard'll search before he decides to head back to his little cabin?"

Reid thought about it, "It'll be a while before he stops looking for us. He's been planning this for a long time and he was so close to finishing his revenge on Agent Gibbs and Hotch… He's not just going to give up."

"Didn't think so…" Tony muttered. He pushed himself away from the tree he was leaning against, his chest and back covered in scratches from the needles of the pine trees and the sharp bark. "Let's get moving Doc," he said. "Don't want him to catch up to us any time soon."

As they started hobbling down the path again, they looked back, hearing the faint roar of an engine. Reid licked his lips, "He's still pretty far away."

"Yeah…" Tony murmured in agreement. "But for how long?"

Reid swallowed and they started limping again, hopefully getting farther and farther away from Fidel as the rumbling of his truck engine grew fainter and fainter. After several minutes, Tony wiped his brow with his free hand and looked around.

"There has got to be something out here that tells us where the hell we are," he muttered. "Some sort of sign or something…"

Reid grimaced and then let out a strangled scream as he fell to the ground, Tony's arm slipping away. Tony caught him instantly, and helped him to move into a more comfortable position. "You alright, Doc?" he asked.

Reid didn't answer, his hands clutching at his knee, his face screwed up in pain. Tony eyed him worriedly before looking around to see what could've caused the sudden reaction. He spotted a root on the ground, jutting up higher than most of the rest and swore under his breath. "I'm sorry, Doc… I should've see that."

"Not your fault," Reid managed to force out through clenched teeth. "I'm alright…" his hands slowly loosened their grip on his aching knee and fell away. "I'm fine." He said, his voice steadier this time. "Let's go."

He tried to stand, but there was no way he could manage it on his own. Tony watched him for a minute, shaking his head, "No way, Doc." He said. "Sit down. There's no way you're walking like that. We can sit tight for a little while until your knee stops hurting."

"Go on ahead then," Reid said. "You can cover more ground -"

"This is the thousandth time I'm gonna say this, Doc, but I am not leaving you here. Deal with it."

"You're exaggerating," Reid muttered, wincing as he shifted where he sat. "And we need to keep moving. What happens if he finds us now? Neither one of us is in any shape to fight him off. We've got to stay mobile."

Grudgingly, Tony admitted that Reid had a point there. It wasn't smart for them to remain still for any length of time. He chewed on his lower lip as he thought. "Alright… Alright, fine then. I'll carry you."

"What?" Reid protested, wincing when the other man knelt and lifted him up, one arm carefully placed bellow his knees, the other on his back. "Look, Tony, you don't have to -"

"Stop it. We need to keep moving, and seriously, you probably weigh, what, 140? 150 at the highest. I can carry you for a while so your knee doesn't hurt you as much."

"What about your leg?" Reid demanded, shifting uncomfortably in Tony's arms.

"I'll be fine for a little while." Tony said, though, honestly, his leg was already starting to feel the strain. This was the fastest way they could move and he wasn't about to let Reid stay behind and be grabbed by Fidel again. It wasn't exactly the most comfortable solution, but it worked.

After a minute, Tony's arms were starting to burn with the strain of the extra weight, but he still ignored Reid's protests to put him down. "Doc, relax. I'm fine, you can't walk and we need to keep moving. Once I think you can walk again, I'll put you down, deal?"

Reid frowned at him, but really had no other choice but to agree. And hope that Morgan never heard about this… He would never let him hear the end of it if he heard that Agent DiNozzo had carried him bridal style through the woods while they were trying to get away from Fidel…

* * *

_E/N: So, now the teams are looking in the woods. Fidel is looking in the woods. And Reid and Tony are getting cozy, LOL._

_I couldn't resist, because honestly, I sort of want this to be Tony/Reid. (Don't worry people who don't want that, it isn't going to be -pouts-) But by God, they will be friends! X)_

_Hope you enjoyed it!_

_DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW!_


	20. Chapter 20

_A/N: I apologize for the long wait for this chapter! It wasn't technically my fault though, my school district's internet was down! I'm so sorry! _

_I will, unfortunately. not be able to update on a regular basis any longer. My internet has been off since September, and only one computer at my school didn't have FF blocked, but since they fixed out skool internet, it's been blocked there too and none of my friends currently have computers or internet for me to "borrow" I'm sitting outside of a store atm that has wifi. I'll try update at least once a week, maybe once every two weeks if it gets bad… But rest assured that I have not forgotten my stories and I WILL continue to write and wait for a chance to update! I'm sorry for the slower updates, it seems like life doesn't want me to update. But life can screw itself cuz by God, I'm gonna update!_

_Thanks so much for all of your awesome reviews guys! I'm glad you're all enjoying the story so far X)_

_It looks like they're nearing rescue… finally. It only took me what, 20 chapters… And there's still more to go…_

_WARNING: This story may not be suitable for children under the age of 13 due to graphic violence, mild language, blood and possible gruesome crime scenes. Parents strongly cautioned. … I got nothing… boredom and apathy do that 2 me…_

_PLEASE REVIEW!_

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**WEST VIRGINIA - WOODS 12:20 P.M. EST**

After almost a half hour, Tony simply couldn't carry Reid any longer and he eased him down before nearly collapsing against a tree and sliding down, scraping his back painfully in the process. Reid winced slightly, but thankfully, his knee wasn't throbbing as badly as it had been earlier and he felt confident that he could at least try to walk once they got moving again.

"Ok, we've been wandering around out here for almost two hours…" Tony said. "There's got to be a more productive way to run away from a psycho like this…"

Reid frowned, "If we knew where we were, maybe. But we're out in the middle of nowhere. We aren't even sure if we're still in Virginia or not. All we can do is keep moving and hope we're going in the right direction."

Tony sighed, tapping his fingers and looking around at the trees that surrounded them. "There's got to be something we can do." He said, frowning. "How far do you think this trail goes anyway?"

"I don't know," Reid admitted. "But it's better than wandering around and getting lost, going in circles."

"We're already lost," Tony pointed out. "Our goal is to not get turned around and end up back at that house, wouldn't you think?"

Reid nodded, "So we keep moving down the trail. It could be miles long, but it puts us farther away from the house, and hopefully nearer to a highway and people who could help us. We aren't safe sitting here, while Fidel is out there looking for us."

Tony was really getting aggravated at their total lack of options. It was either move and hope for safety or not move and likely get grabbed by an angry bastard with hand tools… Somehow this seemed too much like a cheap horror movie at that moment. He forced himself to his feet and helped Reid up, opting not to carry him this time. His leg was still throbbing from the added burden and Reid insisted that he was ok to walk for now.

"How long do you think it's gonna take them to find us?" Tony asked after a few minutes. He'd give his team a couple of days considering how well Fidel seemed to have planned this whole thing. But he wasn't sure about Reid's team. They seemed to be pretty good and if they were working together, maybe they'd find them sooner.

Reid looked thoughtful. "Once they realize who the unsub is, it shouldn't take them too long to find us. There has to be some connection to Fidel and this place. And however small it is, they'll find it. Of course, that could take a day or so. And we don't even know if they know who took us."

Tony nodded thoughtfully.

"But," Reid added after a moment. "Fidel said that he was going to kill us tonight. Which I think means that he expects them to have figured it out and found us in roughly that time, so they could already be on their way to us."

That gave Tony some hope. If they had figured out where Fidel had been keeping them, it wouldn't be long before they got there and search teams arrived. The way Gibbs drove, it probably wouldn't take them more than two hours to get to where they were, even if they were in some obscure town in… Pennsylvania or something.

"And once they do find the place, they'll probably realize that we escaped and send out a search party for us…" Tony finished, thinking.

"Right." Reid nodded. "But as long as Fidel is out here looking for us too, we have to be careful. He knows the woods better than we do, better than our teams do."

Tony chose to ignore that disheartening thought… They had a chance, it seemed. A slim chance, but he'd take a chance over nothing. If they were lucky, their teams would find them first. Or maybe they'd reach the end of this trail and flag down a helpful stranger who could call them an ambulance. Of course, in the experiences of both Tony DiNozzo and Spencer Reid, luck seemed less inclined to help them out.

They heard the faint rumble of an engine and looked behind them, not seeing anything. They sped up, causing Reid to wince. "Sorry, Doc." Tony grunted in apology.

"It's fine." Reid told him, grimacing. "We've got to keep moving."

They moved as fast as they could, but for some reason that sound seemed to keep getting closer. It was definitely coming from somewhere behind them, but they never saw anything back there the many times they looked. It was several minutes of fast limping and thumping hearts before the sound died away again and they heard nothing but their own breathing and the movement of animals in the woods.

They slowed down considerably once they thought they were safe. It wasn't easy to keep a steady pace when they were both injured as badly as they were. Reid was amazed that they'd managed to move as fast as they had, especially considering his knee injury. But he was grateful for it. It brought them just a little bit closer to freedom.

After a few minutes of silence, Tony asked his usual periodic question. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." Reid said. And this time, it was mostly true. His knee was obviously throbbing, but the ache had died off quite a lot since Tony had carried him earlier. And though he was sure that it had swollen to the size of a small watermelon, the fact that he could use it and walk on it at all anymore was a reassuring sign that maybe, just maybe, the doctors would be able to fix it again.

Looking ahead, Reid frowned. It looked like the trail opened up a bit further on. "Is that what I think it is?" Reid asked. Tony followed Reid's stare and saw the brighter light, the less dense trees ahead and couldn't help but smile. Finally, it looked like they were getting somewhere. Maybe this time luck had decided to grace them with her presence…

And maybe he thought too soon.

As they quickened their pace and rounded a small bend in the trail, Tony slid on a patch of newly fallen leaves and they both crashed to the ground. But that wasn't the worst of their problems because as Tony and Reid groaned and struggled back to their feet shakily, they heard the sound of what they at first thought was a large animal coming out of the bushes on their left. In stead, it turned out to Mason Fidel, his dark eyes alight with anger.

The two injured agents took a wobbly step back, but there really wasn't anywhere for them to go. Mason smiled as he slowly approached them. They could see blood staining the back of his neck where Tony had slammed the crowbar onto him and the gash in his forehead was an ugly, still open and bruised cut.

"There you are…" Fidel crooned, his voice still an atrociously inappropriate match with his appearance. "Did you think you could escape? Really… Agent DiNozzo, Dr. Reid here can hardly walk. It wasn't that hard to find you. You're playing a dangerous game of cat and mouse here…"

Tony licked his lips, glancing around desperately for something to use as a weapon. "Always hated cats…" he muttered, spotting a large limb lying on the ground beside them.

Reid watched Tony's eyes and saw the limb as well. He swallowed hard and fought to keep himself standing upright without Tony's support. His eyes flickered from Tony to Fidel and back as he read the situation. He wouldn't be much good in a fight, that was for sure. But there had to be something he could do…

Without warning, Fidel lunged toward them and Tony screamed, diving toward the limb. Unfortunately, he missed, his leg slipping painfully underneath him and he heard a resounding _crunch _that made him sick to his stomach.

Reacting totally on instinct, Reid grimaced as he grabbed the limb and swung to stop Fidel from attacking Tony. He stood in shock when the wood made contact with Fidel's abdomen and knocked the air out of him. It probably bruised a few ribs too judging from the strangled howl the man let out. Tony shuffled backwards, grunting in pain as he did. His leg was definitely broken now…

Reid wasn't entirely sure what to do. He could hardly stand but now it seemed he was the only one of the two of them who could stand at all. He shifted the stick in his hands, getting a better grip on it. He'd been trained in the same hand-to-hand combat classes as Tony and Morgan and Hotch. Maybe he wasn't as good as they were, but he did have the training…

As Fidel straightened up, looking partially stunned that either of them had fought back, he jumped again and Reid swung. Fidel ducked this time and Reid took several painful steps back before swinging the limb with all his might and knocking the man in the head, bits of bark sticking into a now bloody wound on his temple.

Fidel stumbled and fell, slowly getting back to his feet again, clutching at his bleeding head.

"Look out, Doc!" Tony yelled when Fidel came running at them again. The older agent winced, straightening out his leg and snatching a decent sized rock for the ground, tossing it at their captor and hitting him right between the legs. Fidel let out high pitched squeal, clenching his eyes shut for a moment as Reid threw a thankful glance to Tony and fought to stay upright. Damn, his knee was killing him…

As Fidel once again straightened, he was more wary. He glared at Tony, who was positioned behind Reid. That was the second time the agent had hit him in the crotch and he was starting to get really pissed off. Licking his lips, he took a step forward, watching as Reid tensed and lifted the limb like a baton, his large brown eyes focused on his every move.

But it was obvious to the man that the young agent was quickly losing the battle against his injured knee. He waited until Reid nearly collapsed to charge again. Tony yelled, though Reid had seen him coming. Reid swung the limb, but not with nearly as much force as he had before and Mason snatched it from his hands, twisting roughly and shoving Reid to the ground. He landed on top of Tony and both men screamed as pain flared though their legs and they looked up at Fidel with barely concealed fear and pure hate.

Mason stood over them, breathing heavily. Bleeding from his temple and the back of his head. Every breath he took hurt and he was starting to wonder if maybe Agent Reid had broken one of his ribs. His crotch was aching from the rock Tony had thrown and he was sweating and tired, but damn it he was going to have his revenge.

He lifted the limb they'd been using against his, preparing to bring it down on Agent DiNozzo, when two gun shots rang out in the semi-silence of the woods and someone let out a scream.

**WEST VIRGINIA - WOODS 12:32 P.M. EST**

They'd called in SWAT agents and search dogs to follow the trail out into the woods. Gibbs and Hotch were heading one of the teams - with Morgan and McGee. Kate and Prentiss were heading another with two SWAT agents. Rossi and JJ were heading the last with three SWAT agents. And then there were two other teams of SWAT and FBI agents spreading out in the dense woods. They were going to find their missing agents if it was the last thing they did.

Each team had a dog with them and they went out in different directions, combing the area as much as was physically possible.

It wasn't long before they spotted tire treads and began following them, using flashlights to help when the trees cast dark shadows despite the fact that it was hardly after noon. "Over here!" Hotch called. They found another trail deeper in the woods. One that was marred with recent tracks.

Gibbs pulled out his radio, "We've got something," he barked into it, telling the others where to find the trail before he, Hotch, Morgan and McGee set out on the narrow trail, letting the dog go first.

They were about halfway down the trail when they heard someone scream and broke into a run. "We've got 'em!" Hotch quipped into his radio. "They're just up the trail, North-East of the cabin."

As they got nearer to the sounds, they heard more screams and struggles. Someone let out a high pitched squeal and then they heard Tony and Reid both yell in pain. As the sounds of the conflict grew closer, they slowed down and edged their way around a bend in the trail.

They spotted their agents, sprawled on the ground in obvious pain. And standing over them was Mason Fidel, who himself didn't look so great. He'd obviously taken his own beating while holding them captive.

They drew their guns slowly from their holsters and waited for a good shot. As Fidel lifted a tree branch over his head like an axe, they both fired, shattering the calm in the forest as the bullets shot out of the chambers with a loud _bang _and Fidel froze, his eyes wide with shock and empty after a moment. Blood splattered all over their fallen agents and Fidel crumbled to the ground slowly, the limb falling from his limp hands uselessly.

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_E/N: Hmm… a bit longer chapter. And they're finally saved! I was debating about letting Tony and Reid kill the bastard, but ultimately, he did this to get to Gibbs and Hotch… and the best part is that he never even saw it coming… And Tony managed to get in another nut-shot before the end X)_

_Next up: the healing process. Yuck. I'm not sure I'm so great w/the whole 'healing' thing… _

_Also: Tony/Reid shippers and non-Tony/Reid shippers… Like I said last chapter, I REALLY want this to be a Tony/Reid story… But I've settled for Friendship so far… HOWEVER, my muse is being cruel to me and I can't deny her any longer… So, AFTER the hospital stuff and the story is for all intents and purposes over, how would you guys feel about a few chapters of Tony/Reid or a long epilogue w/the two of them all googly-eyed? That way, the non-shippers can read the whole story and get a satisfying ending and the shippers can read the slash-y parts and be happy too… Let me know!_

_Hope you enjoyed the chapter!_

_DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW!_


	21. Chapter 21

_A/N: Thanks so much for your reviews guys! I'm glad you're still reading this! We're almost finished I think, it's all winding down…_

_Now, healing starts this chapter… _

_And here's what I've decided to do: I understand the non-shippers issues w/this being slash, and I would hate for anyone to stop reading so close to the end of the story… But my muse is a slash addict… So, what I've decided to do is write a follow up, that will be a long oneshot, maybe a two-shot or (if my muse goes really insane) a three-shot. So, depending on how you look at it, this story is either friendship or pre-slash… I hope that satisfies people because it's the only way to get my muse to stop beating against the inside of my skull…_

_WARNING: This story may not be suitable for children under the age of 13 due to graphic violence, mild language, blood and possible gruesome crime scenes. Parents strongly cautioned._

_PLEASE REVIEW!_

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**WEST VIRGINIA – WOODS 1:05 P.M. EST**

Tony and Reid gasped, eyes open wide, as a spray of blood, brain matter and even bits of bone exploded from the front of Mason Fidel's head. Blood splattered all over the two agents lying on the ground in pain and then they heard someone yelling, but the words were unintelligible as they stared at the lifeless body of their kidnapper…

"Reid!" Prentiss breathed a sigh of relief as she and Morgan rushed toward them with Kate and McGee right behind them.

"DiNozzo!" Kate called as she ran ahead of McGee and she and Prentiss knelt next to their friends.

Tony swallowed, blinking rapidly before turning to look at Kate, his eyes bewildered for a moment, as if he was trying to figure out what had just happened. He was sure that he had been seconds from a painful death. Slowly, his mind caught up with everything that happened and he realized that someone must've shot Fidel from behind… "Kate?" he frowned, his brows coming together as the woman threw her arms around him.

He wasn't sure who was more surprised, him or Kate, but either way, it snapped him out of his strange state of shock. "What took you people so long? We had to do most of the work ourselves."

Kate pulled back and smirked at him, rolling her eyes. "Typical DiNozzo," she muttered. But there was no real malice in her voice. Not after spending two days worrying that she might never see the arrogant bastard again.

"Reid, are you ok?" Prentiss asked, worriedly looking over her blood splattered, grime covered and bruised friend.

Reid opened his mouth to tell her that, yes, he was fine, but Tony cut him off quickly. "He needs a doctor. Probably gonna have to have surgery on that knee," he nodded to the mangled thing that was Reid's knee. "He can hardly walk."

"I'm ok to walk, really," Reid insisted. "It's just a little sore…"

"No way Pretty Boy," Morgan shook his head at his friend. "We called paramedics, they'll be here soon."

Reid made a face, but didn't argue. It was pointless; Tony, Morgan and Prentiss weren't going to let him walk anywhere. "Tony shouldn't be walking either," Reid said, smiling at the annoyed look the other man shot him. "He's at least got severe muscle damage to his leg from the screwdriver and he's been helping me out here. And I'm fairly certain he just broke his leg."

"Both of you are staying put until the paramedics get here," Kate said, her tone leaving no room for argument. Tony sighed and slumped against the tree, wincing as his broken leg jarred unexpectedly.

Kate and Prentiss exchanged a frown. "You look like hell, DiNozzo."

"Excuse me," Tony muttered. "I just spent two days locked up in a dirty basement and hours wandering around in the woods trying to not die. I forgot to bathe."

She smiled, rolling her eyes. "You know, it kills me to say this, but I missed you, Tony."

Tony grinned, "I knew you would. You can't go on without me."

Prentiss laughed, feeling an odd ball of tension in her chest dissipate now that Reid was safe and relatively alright. There was his mangled knee to worry about, but surgery should fix that… At least they hadn't been too late to save him.

**QUANTICO, VIRGINIA - HOSPITAL WAITING ROOM 4:08 P.M. EST**

"How did Strauss take the news of Fidel's death?" Rossi murmured. He, Hotch and Gibbs were standing in one corner of the waiting room, talking quietly. McGee, Abby, Garcia, JJ, Prentiss, Ducky, Morgan and Kate were all sitting in a silent, worried group. Abby and Garcia hadn't even seen Reid or Tony yet, and were chatting quietly in worried tones. They were all sure that the agents would survive, but their injuries hadn't been minor by any count…

"She took it better than I expected," Hotch answered quietly. "I didn't even finish explaining everything and she said she'd take care of it if there were any issues."

Gibbs looked surprised, "This is Erin Strauss you're talking about? Did someone pull the stick out of her ass?" he asked. He'd dealt with the Section Chief on a couple of cases and found her to be even worse than most FBI agents he'd ever worked with.

Rossi chuckled, shaking his head. "No, I doubt it."

"She's been a lot more reasonable since the Foyet case ended," Hotch said, his voice slightly hollow when he said Foyet's name. Gibbs studied his face, but didn't comment on his tone. He could tell it was something the agent didn't want to talk about.

"Agents?" a nurse walked into the waiting room, looking around at them. They were the only people there at the moment. "Anthony DiNozzo just got out of surgery,"

Gibbs, Abby, McGee and Kate were all at the nurse's side in an instant. "How is he?" Kate and Gibbs asked at the same time. Gibbs shot Kate a look and she bit her lip, but he just quirked his lips into a sort of half smile before turning back to the nurse.

"He's still sedated, but he should be fine. There was minor muscle damage to his thigh, and his left femur was broken. He had a couple of bruised ribs too and he'll be on crutches for a while, and most certainly in pain, but other than that he just had a few minor scrapes and bruises. He should back to himself in no time."

"When can we see him?" Gibbs demanded, frowning slightly.

"It'll be at least an hour." The nurse said slowly. "He's sedated and needs a little while to rest before you crowd him. He's been through a very stressful ordeal."

Gibbs went to argue, but the nurse cut him off. "The doctor gave specific orders, Agent. I'm sorry. You can see your friend in an hour or so."

"What about Agent Reid?" Hotch asked, walking over to the nurse, his steady gaze meeting her eyes. She frowned, "You're… Agent Hotchner?" she asked, glancing down at a chart in her hands.

"Yes," Hotch nodded.

"Hmm… Spencer Reid is in surgery right now, sir. He should be out in a little under an hour if things go as planned."

"Can you let us know when he's out?"

"I'll be sure to let the doctor know," she nodded. "And Anthony's doctor should be out to talk to you, Agent Gibbs, in a few minutes. If you have any more questions, you can talk to him."

**QUANTICO, VIRGINIA - HOSPITAL, TONY'S ROOM 5:17 P.M. EST**

It was a long sixty-seven minutes before the doctor allowed them to go back to Tony's room. Abby insisted on going first and Gibbs couldn't tell her no, so the nurse led the dark haired lab tech back to the room where her injured friend was currently staying.

He was sitting up in the hospital bed, bruised and weary looking, but awake all the same. He offered Abby a weak version of his usual half-smirk, half-grin. "Hey, Abs."

"Tony!" Abby grinned, rushing to his side and hugging him, forgetting for a moment about his bruised ribs. Tony winced and let out a strangled "Oof" when she knocked the air out of him, but hugged her back as best as he could with tubes and wires tangled around him.

"Sorry," Abby rocked back on her heels when she realized she'd hurt him. "Forgot… How are you feelin'?"

"…Like I was hit by a truck. Twice. And that's with the morphine,"

Abby grinned, rolling her eyes. "You sort of look like you were hit by a truck…" she said teasingly. He grinned at her, but shrugged.

"How's Gibbs? Haven't talked to him since the ambulance left."

"He's just being Gibbs. Impatient and sort of gruff," she smiled, sitting down next to the bed and looking around the bright room for a moment before turning to look back at him. She was oddly quiet.

"You know I'm fine, right, Abs?" Tony asked, taking her hand for a moment. She smiled at him and shook her hand out of his.

"I know. But …Well, I watched those videos, Tony. And I keep seeing what he did to you and Reid…"

"How is he anyway?"

"…He's still in surgery, I think. His knee was pretty messed up."

Tony frowned, looking worried for just a moment, but he quickly shook it off. "Oh." He said slowly. "…Abby, he's dead, ok. He isn't going to hurt me or Dr. Reid or anyone else again."

She frowned, "I know that, Tony. But still… I've never heard you scream before. I've never seen _you _scared. The only thing worse could've been if it was Gibbs."

"Are you saying you love Gibbs more than me?" Tony teased, trying to ease the somewhat gloomy mood that had swept over their conversation.

Abby sighed and rolled her eyes again, but a small smile reached her lips and she laughed. "Don't be silly, Tony. I love you both the same."

**QUANTICO, VIRGINIA - HOSPITAL WAITING ROOM 5:23 P.M. EST**

Gibbs was sitting impatiently, coffee cup in one hand, leg restlessly tapping. He'd waited over an hour to see DiNozzo and then Abby had given him that look and he couldn't say no to her… Which left him to wait even longer to see his agent. He swore angrily in his mind, which was an improvement from swearing out loud, he supposed.

He considered Tony to be a sort of surrogate son - not that he'd ever admit to it. He cared about all of his agents in some way. Abby was like his little girl, anyone who tried to hurt her would have hell to pay… McGee was sort of the estranged nephew who he'd grown closer to the longer he worked with him. Gibbs figured maybe one day McGee would be more like a son than a nephew, but only time would tell. Ducky… well, Ducky was Ducky. He was the rambling old grandfather who had a twinkle in his eyes and a sort of odd sense of humor, but a kind heart.

Kate was a bit complicated; he wasn't sure what she really was to him. Friend, daughter… He did care about her, the way he would a daughter, but not the same way he cared about Abby. Abby put up her fronts and jokes, but she was just as vulnerable as a child sometimes… Kate was different, but it was hard to explain how.

And Tony… Tony was like his oldest son. He held a special place in the former Marine's heart… He was like the football champion who smirked and joked and laughed, but still needed guidance every once in a while… Gibbs had watched that man mature in the years he'd known him and though he would never say so out loud, except in rare, very rare, moments, he was proud of him. And at the moment, he was also worried as hell…

"He's alright, Jethro." Ducky assured him, taking the seat next to the silver haired agent. "The doctor said he was fine and Abigail will be back any minute to let you see him."

Gibbs felt a smile tug at his lips, the first real smile he'd been able to smile since Tony and Dr. Reid were kidnapped. "I know, Duck." He said absently. "I just want to see him for myself."

Ducky offered the agent a kind smile, "I understand. But don't worry so much, Jethro. You know he's fine."

Gibbs sighed, "Who says I'm worried?" he asked, raising a brow.

Ducky smiled thoughtfully at him and motioned to his jumping knee. "I'd say you're not doing a decent job covering up that fact," he informed him.

Gibbs glanced down at his knee and put his free hand on it, forcing it to stop bouncing. "Better?" he asked, smirking slightly.

Ducky chuckled, "I suppose…"

**~/.\~**

Hotch couldn't help but finally sigh in relief when he saw the doctor walk out in the waiting room and ask for Reid. He and the team were practically in the doctor's face as soon as he walked out. "Is Aaron Hotchner here?" the doctor asked, frowning around at them.

"I am," Hotch moved closer to the front of the group, having to nudge slightly passed Garcia, who was staring at the doctor with wide, worried eyes. "How is he?"

The doctor glanced around at the other agents, but didn't comment on them, instead turning to Hotch. "He just came out of surgery, he should be coming around soon, but he'll be a bit out of it for a while. I don't recommend you seeing him just yet. He needs to rest a while before I let anyone close to him. His knee was in bad shape, it appears he had surgery recently,"

"Yes, he was shot not long ago. He was just cleared to go back in the field."

"I see," the doctor nodded. "Well then, he is very fortunate that more damage wasn't done. He'll have to go through physical therapy again, and stay off his knee as often as possible. No field work for a while. He had a fractured rib, but it was a minor break and he had other superficial cuts and bruises as well, but nothing major."

"So he'll be okay?" Garcia piped up, her voice quavering slightly.

"Yes, ma'am, he should make a full recovery. As long as he stays off his knee and keeps up with his physical therapy."

"Thank you doctor," Hotch nodded.

"When can we see him?" JJ asked.

"…Give him at least an hour, Agents. Then I'll let you see him, but please don't stay too long and don't crowd him. From what I understand, he's been through a lot these past couple of days and he doesn't need the stress."

They nodded slowly and went to join the NCIS agents in their seats again, impatiently waiting for their chance to see their friend. It was going to be a long night, that was for sure…

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_E/N: So, another chapter that's a bit longer. Hope you guys enjoyed it! 'Healing' isn't really my forte… I'm better w/the 'Hurting' bit X)_

_Anyway, just to reiterate what I said earlier: there will NOT be slash in this story; I will be writing a follow up that will be slash. Shippers can consider this pre-slash, non-shippers can consider it friendship._

_Only a chapter or two left guys! I can't believe I'm FINALLY almost finished with this! I'm surprised it's so long! Hope you enjoyed the chapter! Let me know!_

_DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW!_


	22. Chapter 22

A/N: So, this is the last chapter guys. Thanks so much for sticking with me this long! I'm sorry you guys didn't get to actually see my regular updates in action… It kills me to not be able to update at least every other day… Ah well.

I'm glad you shippers and non-shippers were happy w/my decision. I think a follow-up/sequel is the best way to quell my muse's annoying rants and give everyone what they want.

I hope you guys enjoy this chapter, I know I didn't focus much on the whole 'healing' bit, but like I said, I'm not quite adept at those parts and the shows tend to skim over that too (the physical healing at least) so I'm not really doing you too much of an injustice (I hope)

Anyways, thanks for your support, reviews, favorites and alert adds, comments and constructive criticisms. I really enjoyed meshing these two teams together and who knows, maybe I'll eventually get Ziva's character down and bring them together for a little reunion later on. Of course, that's only MAYBE … and it would also be slash considering the follow up for this is slash.

So, I apologize for the irregular updates, thank you all for your patience and endearing support and offer you another quick apology for this long author's note… onto the final chapter!

WARNING: This story may not be suitable for children under the age of 13 due to graphic violence, mild language, blood and possible gruesome crime scenes. Parents strongly cautioned… Wow. I can't believe this is the last time I'm gonna type that. Feels weird, ya know?

REVIEW PLEASE! COMMENTS AND OPINIONS ARE MUCH LOVED!

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**QUANTICO, VIRGINIA - HOSPITAL, TONY'S ROOM 5:34 P.M. EST**

"I'm fine, Boss, really." Tony insisted. Ducky, Gibbs and Kate were all surrounding his bed. McGee and Abby had gone on a quick coffee run and to get a report on Dr. Reid, which was really the only thing Tony was interested in at that moment. He hadn't seen Reid since they'd been wheeled away to separate rooms upon their arrival and all his team could tell him was that he had recently come out of surgery.

It was incredible irritating, being confined to some uncomfortable hospital bed, his leg in a heavy cast, tubes and wires tangling their way around his body like an unwanted set of chains.

"Really, DiNozzo? You're fine?" Gibbs's voice brought him out of his silent thoughts. "Get up and walk around then."

Tony huffed and leaned back against the pillows. Ok, so maybe he wasn't totally, one hundred percent fine. That didn't mean he was shattered by an stretch of the imagination. Still, Gibbs was right and he really didn't want to push the point anyway. His boss looked about ready to murder someone. For the second time that day.

He sighed, "Alright, I'm a little busted up. I'll be back to normal in no time." Tony assured him.

Kate let out a little half-snort and smirked down at her injured friend. "Unfortunately." She murmured. "Do you think they could fix your personality while we're here?"

Tony shot her a glare, but there wasn't any real anger in it. Ducky chuckled listening to the two of them bicker like brother and sister. It was oddly comforting to hear the two of them arguing. It was just like everything was completely normal. Aside from the hospital room and the FBI agents that they'd somehow grown closer to over the course of the past couple of days… Still, mostly, everything was entirely the same.

Abby and McGee returned moments later, carrying two cardboard containers with coffee and chattering quietly, apparently having a small argument as they passed coffee around to everyone. Except Tony, who grumbled his disappointment at the lack of caffeine, but was quickly abashed by Gibbs and Kate, who told him the doctor said no coffee just yet.

"Have you heard anything about Dr. Reid?" Tony asked. It felt odd, after two days of calling him 'Doc' to say 'Dr. Reid' but he ignored that and set his eyes on Abby, somehow pleading with her to give him good news.

"Hotch and the other profilers are going to visit him as soon as the doctor says it's ok. Which should be soon," Abby glanced at the clock on the wall. "And Penelope wants to meet you after she sees 'her baby'," she added with a quick grin.

"Penelope?" Tony raised a brow.

"Garcia," Abby said. "Their technical analyst."

"Oh…" Tony frowned. "Why does she want to meet me, exactly? … Heard stories of my amazing abilities and mind blowing skills?" He felt a smirk light his face and Kate swatted him on the shoulder, rolling her eyes. At least Gibbs hadn't - And he thought too soon as Gibbs's hand swiftly made contact with the back of his skull. Damn, that was the one part of him that wasn't aching.

He rubbed his head with a small frown and waited for Abby, who had paused to giggle for a moment, to respond to his question.

"She said she wanted to meet the man who got her 'baby boy' out of 'that hell hole'." She raised her hands and made tiny quotations around the distinctly Garcia-like phrases and smiled. "Apparently, things like this happen a lot to dear Dr. Reid, the danger magnet."

Tony felt a faint smile stretch his face at those words, remembering when Reid had confided in him that he'd been kidnapped before… The fear in the younger man's eyes hadn't been comical, honestly, but somehow when Abby put it the way she had he got a strange mental picture of the young doctor tied to a set of railroad tracks, a train fast approaching, and some dark-clad, cackling villain standing feet away, watching hungrily for his doom.

"He did mention that," Tony remarked thoughtfully, trying to rid his mind of the strange, somehow hilarious image as he watched the rest of his team drink coffee and talk, about Fidel, about the case, about his injuries and about the FBI team that had slowly become more than just a necessary evil… Somewhere along the line, they'd become, dare he think it, friends.

**QUANTICO, VIRGINIA - HOSPITAL, REID'S ROOM 5:57 P.M. EST**

Reid had woke from his grueling surgery about a half hour ago, surrounded by doctors and a bustling, kind faced nurse, but totally alone. He felt odd, not seeing Tony anywhere nearby. For the past two days Tony - and pain - had been his only real constants. And now all that remained was the pain, a dull, aching and familiar throb in his knee. He glanced toward the IV stuck in his arm and tried his best not to think about it.

He'd beaten it before and he would again… Besides, it was only morphine, which wasn't as potent as Dilaudid. And doctors were careful not to put anyone on a high dose of the drug anyway. They knew what they were doing. He had only half listened as his surgeon explained, in detail, the damage that Fidel's hammer had done to his already injured knee, but he really only comprehended the part about crutches and the promise that with physical therapy - ugh - he _would _regain almost total use of his knee.

He, unfortunately, already knew that he would never be able to get the mangled thing that he currently called his knee back to one hundred percent, but he'd settle for ninety, or even eighty percent, as long as he could walk again and could - eventually - get back out in the field. He really hated being left behind at the station or with Garcia (despite how much he did love the insane technical analyst). It made him feel incredibly useless to not be able to do the things an FBI agent was supposed to do… But with his track record, it was probably for the best that he would be out of the field for a while. It gave the bad guys less opportunity to kidnap him for whatever reason they saw fit…

He was sitting up, propped up against a mound of stiff pillows, with his mangled right leg stretched out as much as the doctor would allow, when his team was finally allowed to visit him. Garcia and JJ were the first to enter, taking chairs and yanking them as close to the bed as they could. Prentiss and Morgan came in behind them, followed closely by Rossi and Hotch, who stood near the foot of his bed.

Garcia, never one to ponder personal boundaries, immediately reached out and pushed a fallen strand of hair from his face. "How are you feeling, Reid?" she asked. Her voice was strangely somber and he wondered briefly if she had seen the video that Mason had sent the teams. He sincerely hoped not, but didn't want to press that issue just yet, so he offered the team a weary smile and for one moment locked eyes with Hotch, who seemed to understand, oddly enough, just what he was feeling and who nodded slowly and sharply in his direction.

Though Reid wasn't entirely sure what that nod meant, or why Hotch had nodded at all, he felt his smile get a little more genuine as he answered Garcia. "I've been worse…" he said slowly. "…And better." He added at her raised brow. "But mostly, I'm just sort of worn out."

"Anyone would be worn out after hours trekking through those woods," Prentiss commented slowly.

"Are you sure you're ok, Spence?" JJ asked. She took his hand carefully in hers and met his eyes. Somehow, JJ's wide blue eyes made him feel a bit safer than he had when he'd first woken up. She's always been the kind supporting older sister to him… Prentiss was the protective, upfront and sometimes bluntly honest, but totally loving older sister. Morgan the irritating, overly-protective older brother and Garcia the insane cousin everyone loved, but secretly thought should be committed to some obscure institution. Hotch and Rossi… They were like the parents of their strange little family, he supposed. Though, he wasn't really clear on who was the mother and who was the father… That thought brought a strange smile to his face.

"I'm sure," he answered JJ's question, squeezing her hand gently. She smiled at him and released his hand, sitting back slightly in her seat.

"How's Tony?" Reid asked suddenly, surprising the silent team.

"…He's fine. He's got a broken leg and bruised ribs, but his doctor said he should be back on his feet in no time." Morgan replied.

"Lucky," Reid muttered under his breath, bleakly thinking about the long, immobilized future he had ahead of him. He had barely survive the medical leave the first time, he wasn't sure he could do it all over again.

Hotch chuckled slightly from where he stood at the foot of Reid's bed. "You'll be fine, Reid." He assured his subordinate. "And this, no second opinions, alright?"

Reid huffed slightly, but nodded grudgingly. "Yes, sir."

The rest of the team laughed lightly, remembering Reid's half-hearted excuse for lying to the Unit Chief - and also slightly amazed that he'd gotten away with it scratch free. The somewhat tense air in the room dissipated as they began to have a lengthy discussion about the perils that poor Reid had been forced to suffer through while working with the BAU. Much to Reid's annoyance, it seemed that where his bodily injuries were concerned, they too had eidetic memories and didn't mind laughing at his tendency to fall into dangerous situations. Eventually, he had to admit it was slightly humorous though, and Garcia and Morgan's smiles were too infectious for him to remained stone-faced, but a small voice in his head was wondering what was going on with Tony and his team, somewhere down the hall in another room.

He was amazed to think it, but it almost seemed like the unmoving Agent Gibbs and the unemotional Hotch had forged some sort of half-friendship, along with the other members of the two teams - Garcia and Abby especially - in the days he and Tony had spent in terror-filled captivity. Odd, he thought. He never recalled a case bringing his team and whoever they were assisting so close, but then again, he couldn't recall a case where he and a member of the group they were helping had been kidnapped for some twisted revenge fantasy either…

So, maybe there was something to be said for tough times bringing people closer together, even the most unlikely groups of people like the bureaucracy-hating NCIS team and the family-like team under stoic Aaron Hotchner's supervision… Reid sat back and listened to his team mates babbling about his inherent ability to attract psychos and smiled slightly to himself at the uniqueness of it all, the odd contrast between his last few pain and terror filled hours spent fumbling through the woods with Tony and these few minutes spent laughing at himself with his team.

He held on to that happy trail of thoughts as a small voice in the back of his mind nudged him into feeling another surge of worry about the condition of the NCIS agent he'd spent the past two days suffering with and getting closer to. They'd told him he was fine and until he was allowed to get out of this accursed bed, he would have to take their words for it. He couldn't help but find himself hoping that that time was very, very close in deed.

~**the end~**

* * *

_E/N: For you non-shippers anyway, LOL. Hope you guys enjoyed it! I feel like I got a little philosophically deranged writing this chapter… and that image of Reid tied to the train tracks… priceless XD_

_And 22 glorious chapters without a hint of slash (sighs dejectedly) my muse is feeling murderous right now, so you non-shippers better love me for this (JK, you don't HAVE to love me… but I'd appreciate it if you did… lol)_

_So, it's been a long and slightly bumpy ride, but I hope you enjoyed it! And for all of you Tony/Reid shippers, the slashy goodness you guys crave so much has been posted as well! (cheers loudly) Look for it on my page or search the title _**"Ahead of Ourselves"** _I hope you guys enjoy it!_

_Also, I don't know how many of you read my story "A Place to Call Home" (it's been several months since it was completed) but I just posted a companion piece to it, _**"Invisibly Shaken" **_if you're interested. It'll be a short story, probably not more than 10 chapters… Anyway, that's all for now! Shippers and Slash-lovers check out the follow up!_

_Reviews are much loved! That little button down there says he'll give you a cookie if you click him and drop me a comment or two! (…please…?)_


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